Diwali and Dengue

pic of the week

The streets of Jaipur during Diwali

Diwali. The festival of lights. It’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Halloween, New Years, and the Fourth of July combined, and then some. I was lucky enough to have experienced the celebrations in Jaipur, where the festivities are arguably the most extravagant in all of the country. The city completely lit up with lights strung from every building and fireworks being set off all throughout the day and night. Although I thoroughly enjoyed being able to set some off myself, I did not appreciate having to fall asleep to what sounded like World War III outside my window every night.

Both the "Star of David" and the swastika are Hindu prayer symbols

Next to Holi (where Indians throw colored powder at each other in the streets to commemorate the arrival of spring), Diwali is the most exuberant festival for Hindus for two reasons. Its main significance lies in the celebration of the triumph of good over evil. On this day, the beloved Hindu god, Lord Rama, returned from fourteen years in exile, and with the help of his monkey army (yes, you read that correctly), defeated the demon Ravana. The second reason this holiday is most important to Hindus is also what I perceive to be two of the biggest problems in Indian culture as a whole. Diwali calls for puja (worship) of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Key words: worship, and wealth. But let me first explain this in the context of Diwali.

Me with mom and pops at a Sikh temple (gurdwara)

Diwali marks the end of the financial year, and thus, the beginning of a new one. All businesses shut down as workers go home to worship their account books, and I mean this in the most literal sense of the word. They chant matras and prayers to them, light candles and incense and sing songs glorifying the goddess Lakshmi. Even my homestay family who claimed they were celebrating Diwali to a much lesser extent than usual as not only they are Sikh, but because my host mother’s father died (or expired, as she would say) in February *, took part in this elaborate puja ceremony.

Auntie's shrine, notice the stack of cash front/center

Auntie spent all day preparing her prayer room for puja. The small closet-sized space attached to her bedroom was decked out with flowers, candles, incense, pictures of Sikh gurus and small statues of Hindu gods, most notably Lakshmi. The main focus of the ceremony was this small tray which held the traditional clay pot candle, a silver coin with an engraving of Lakshmi, a piece of jewelry, and, get ready for it, a thick stack of cash (you can see in the picture to the right). Indians are not a very subtle people.

The family then proceeded to chant prayers which Auntie was kind enough to translate for me. She said they were praising Lakshmi and praying for the coming year to yield great amounts of money and prosperity. Each individual family member then took turns standing in front of the shrine with a tray which held two candles and which they moved in circles around the shrine as Auntie chanted prayers. When it came time for my turn, Auntie handed me the tray and whispered: “Go ahead Annika, wish for anything you want, anything.” I won’t say what I wished for, but it wasn’t money.

This obsession with wealth is apparent in everyday life in India, not just during Diwali. For example, one of the rickshaw drivers who often takes me to school in the mornings kisses the money I give to him three times before he pockets it. Or, whenever I ask a child or young adult about what they want to be when they grow up, nine times out of ten the answer is doctor, businessman, or, most commonly, engineer. Why, I ask? “Because it’s lucrative.” I recently had a revealing conversation with my homestay brother about what he is planning on doing with his life. He has just finished university and is now finishing up the process of taking the required standardized exams in order to apply to business school. It was clear when I spoke to him that going into business was by no means his dream career; he said he had always wanted to pursue filmmaking. But, he said, it wouldn’t be a lucrative enough career, and “I’d rather make lots of money and be happy.” I tried to explain to him that maybe the connection between money and happiness wasn’t as strong as he might think. He sat on the other side of the table, snug in his designer polo shirt, and looked at me as if I were a madwoman.

Sunset in Udaipur

Like I said, I have two big problems with Indian culture, the first being the obsession with wealth, and the second being the constant worshipping, the rituals, and the superstitions. There are shrines everywhere. Not only in temples, but private homes and all along the streets. There are so many gods (I believe it’s in the trillions) and from my understanding people choose a handful of gods to worship, and they organize it by day of the week (for example they worship Shiva on Mondays, Brahma on Tuesdays, Ganesh on Wednesdays, etc…). Additionally, there are gods which are particular to each family, so you are expected to worship the family god, then chose your own personal gods as well. In case you’re still not clear about what I mean by “worship” it’s basically just consists of chanting prayers and giving offerings in the form of money and flowers to the temples and shrines. The Indians believe that if they don’t give such offerings, no matter how poor they are, their prayers will not be answered and the gods will be angry with them. It is so disturbing to see these unbelievably skinny Indians who are covered in filth from sleeping in the streets throwing the little money they have away on these gods.

Then there are of course the endless festivals which are literally at least once a week where people are expected to do more worshipping and give more money. However, these festivals are completely meaningless; they are created by the upper caste Brahmins mainly for political reasons, and the vast majority of the lower castes are too scared or uneducated to even think about questioning them. 

On to the superstitions…

You have no idea how many times a day I hear the phrase “that’s auspicious!” in this country. It has become so over the top that it has actually turned into an ongoing joke within our group, and they use the term in a positive and negative sense, so we’re never really sure what they mean. For example, in the negative context, it’s auspicious if you wear a ring on your second toe if you’re not married, and in the positive context, it’s auspicious for an infant to wear a black string around his or her waist as it is believed to ward off the evil eye. The numbers one, three, and five are extremely auspicious: it’s auspicious if you shave the head of a child when he or she is one, three, or five years old, it’s auspicious if a woman has one, three, or five silk sarees in her wardrobe, etc… I was drawing an “om” symbol with henna on my foot the other day and I was told that that was auspicious and should immediately take it off. The most disturbing superstition I’ve heard about claims that eating papaya and other fruits and vegetables while pregnant is harmful to the baby. Obviously, the complete opposite is true, and the villagers eventually figured this out when they tried to eat papaya as a means of aborting female fetuses.

Rajasthan's beautiful Aravalli Hills

Then there are the rituals and superstitions which revolve around marriage and death. Before a wedding is planned, the exact date and time must be determined by an astrologer as specific dates and times are more auspicious than others (try Googling “auspicious wedding dates” and see for yourself). There are hundreds of odd rituals which take place around a death. If you are male and a close friend or relative of the family of the deceased, you are expected to shave off your beard, mustache, and all the hair on your head, and present it to the family as a way of showing your sympathy. *Another custom is that the family is not to change anything in the room of the deceased, or have large celebrations for a year following the death.

In other news…

I am now adding dengue fever to the long list of rare illnesses I’ve contracted in my life, next to parasites, rotavirus, scarlet fever, and swine flu. Me and my immune system have one hell of a relationship.
Of course I had to get sick when I was on my own in the poorest most dangerous part of the country; I'm currently doing research in the state of Bihar, which is notorious for having some of the highest rates of everything bad (illiteracy, crime, gender selective abortions, malnutrition, etc...). There was no hospital in the vicinity, and the clinic closest to where I was staying was closed (because there was a festival!!!), so I had to go to this other small, run-down health clinic about a twenty minute cycle rickshaw ride away. I arrived there with a fever of 104 and in tears from the pain, and, just my luck, the doctor had decided to not show up that day, and no one spoke English. The whole thing was a nightmare, but I managed to convince them to call the doctor and an hour and a half later, he finally showed up. I am doing much better now, and all I can say is that I hate mosquitoes more than ever and that I really think they should change the no-swatting-mosquito policy at this monastery where I am staying right now.

I've been asked to upload some photos of the children, so here they are:

Notice the child is wearing an "auspicious" black string around his waist

Some children from the Kathodis tribe