Four decades on earth as an ethnic Hindu but never participated in an Arati! How does it sound? Not normal, right?! Well, I am not very religious! But, yes, I do consider knowing my own culture important. At home Mom was never allowed to worship any god's. There was no idol in our house. On rare ioccasion Mom visited temples secretly. I was brought up an atheist but I always felt sorry for Mom.
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| Rangoli at Ganapati Festival |
Ganapati festival is ten days long. One evening my flatmate told me that she was going to attend the Aarati in the Puja pandal nearby. We had two pandals in our neighborhood. The next day I and my other flatmate accompanied her and attended Aarti at both the places.
To our surprise, the local people in our neighborhood invited us, al the girls in our hostel, to the feast they have arranged on the occasion of Satyanarayan Puja: rice, tur dal (a type of yellow lentil), puri, a spicy vegetable curry, papad and bundi (a sweet dish made of tiny gram flour balls). Served on plates made of "Shaal" leaves, the dinner was completely plant based!
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| The Idol |
This is a "modak", a sweet dish that is an essential part of Ganapati Festival. My flatmate got this from home. As you can see, it looks like a fried dumpling. Inside the filling was mainly of grated coconut. So, this was plant-based, too.
This is a "modak", a sweet dish that is an essential part of Ganapati Festival. My flatmate got this from home. As you can see, it looks like a fried dumpling. Inside the filling was mainly of grated coconut. So, this was plant-based, too.
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