I'm back after a 3 day break... 3 days of sitting in front of the pyre and doing some yagnas or arghyas.
The first day and today morning, the duration of the yagnas and arghyas were less. Yesterday, I had to apply leave from the office for this sake. I had to sit for abt 3 hours in front of the fire place... the HomKund. What's worse is that I missed the Honnemardu Trip.
Around 2000/- bucks for a trip is damn cool, esp when it is with ppl whom you don't know much and it is also to a water place... I can never stop cursing the purohit for telling the final dates to me only a week b4 the actual event and also only a day after I had confirmed my presence for the Trip to Anita. Anita sent me a mail that morning giving her a/c details for the funds to be transferred to and I got to know this.
All these days, I was wondering what Anita would have thought of me. Though I was well able to attend the trip and pay her the money, it so happened that due to this, I could not attend the trip. The purohit (a.k.a vadyar) asked me not to go anywhere out of station, not to eat anything outside, not to use onion/garlic while cooking... For the past week or week and half, I was unable to eat anything tasty... esp of course, Mom's preparations. Sis was also in town, I was feeling really happy for that. But, there are many times when we have not interacted well with each other.
Coming back to Yagna's..... The house was covered with smoke, My eyes were burning. I could not breathe properly. I was not comfortable wearing a dhoti... still, I had to do all these things. I was supposed to sit in front of the pyre in a dhoti, get up whenever the vadyar asked me to... get him some stuff, recite all the shlokas after him. He was very old and without teeth, his pronounciation of the shlokas was incomprehensible... The house was very noisy with all our relatives doing something or the other, the kitchen was busy with delicious eateries being prepared, the aroma was too tempting. I had to overcome all my desires, concentrate (or atleast, try to concentrate) on the hymns that he was reciting... and then perform the yagna.
The best (worst) part was that I needed to offer cooked rice and a piece of Vayakka (Banana in the raw form.... cooked but not ripe) to the pyre. The samitthu and dhurva by themselves were causing much irritation, Over and above these things, there was the dry dung slabs (You call them sagani in kannada) which was acting as a catalyst for the burning sensation in my eyes. On top of this, the vadyar asked me to perform this yagna sitting abt 6 inches from the pyre. I used to feel the direct attack of the heat and the flames on my bare upper torso. My hands used to burn whenever I offered ghee to the pyre. Over and above all these things, I had to offer the cooked rice. Cooked Rice, when it comes into contact with flames, burns brightly and immediately with a "chrrich" noise. The noise is pretty cool to hear, but the amount of smoke that emits is too much...
One good thing is that the next time I have to do this is only in December. That is the yearly one. That is the positive aspect. The negative aspect for me (which I have already started fearing) is that it is for 4 days (somewhere around the year end), with all of my relatives being called in, from various parts of the country. 4 days infront of the pyre, performing yagna... GOD help me!!!! The vadyar just told me that I needed to get ready to sit in front of the pyre for atleast 4-6 hrs per day on those days.... Oh My GAWD!!!!!!
Let me see what's going to happen then...
The first day and today morning, the duration of the yagnas and arghyas were less. Yesterday, I had to apply leave from the office for this sake. I had to sit for abt 3 hours in front of the fire place... the HomKund. What's worse is that I missed the Honnemardu Trip.
Around 2000/- bucks for a trip is damn cool, esp when it is with ppl whom you don't know much and it is also to a water place... I can never stop cursing the purohit for telling the final dates to me only a week b4 the actual event and also only a day after I had confirmed my presence for the Trip to Anita. Anita sent me a mail that morning giving her a/c details for the funds to be transferred to and I got to know this.
All these days, I was wondering what Anita would have thought of me. Though I was well able to attend the trip and pay her the money, it so happened that due to this, I could not attend the trip. The purohit (a.k.a vadyar) asked me not to go anywhere out of station, not to eat anything outside, not to use onion/garlic while cooking... For the past week or week and half, I was unable to eat anything tasty... esp of course, Mom's preparations. Sis was also in town, I was feeling really happy for that. But, there are many times when we have not interacted well with each other.
Coming back to Yagna's..... The house was covered with smoke, My eyes were burning. I could not breathe properly. I was not comfortable wearing a dhoti... still, I had to do all these things. I was supposed to sit in front of the pyre in a dhoti, get up whenever the vadyar asked me to... get him some stuff, recite all the shlokas after him. He was very old and without teeth, his pronounciation of the shlokas was incomprehensible... The house was very noisy with all our relatives doing something or the other, the kitchen was busy with delicious eateries being prepared, the aroma was too tempting. I had to overcome all my desires, concentrate (or atleast, try to concentrate) on the hymns that he was reciting... and then perform the yagna.
The best (worst) part was that I needed to offer cooked rice and a piece of Vayakka (Banana in the raw form.... cooked but not ripe) to the pyre. The samitthu and dhurva by themselves were causing much irritation, Over and above these things, there was the dry dung slabs (You call them sagani in kannada) which was acting as a catalyst for the burning sensation in my eyes. On top of this, the vadyar asked me to perform this yagna sitting abt 6 inches from the pyre. I used to feel the direct attack of the heat and the flames on my bare upper torso. My hands used to burn whenever I offered ghee to the pyre. Over and above all these things, I had to offer the cooked rice. Cooked Rice, when it comes into contact with flames, burns brightly and immediately with a "chrrich" noise. The noise is pretty cool to hear, but the amount of smoke that emits is too much...
One good thing is that the next time I have to do this is only in December. That is the yearly one. That is the positive aspect. The negative aspect for me (which I have already started fearing) is that it is for 4 days (somewhere around the year end), with all of my relatives being called in, from various parts of the country. 4 days infront of the pyre, performing yagna... GOD help me!!!! The vadyar just told me that I needed to get ready to sit in front of the pyre for atleast 4-6 hrs per day on those days.... Oh My GAWD!!!!!!
Let me see what's going to happen then...
Comments
thanks for your comments! What I meant by Belonging is much more than just language. It is hard to explain. But it is nice to converse with you :-}