Durga Days

Mother Durga in all her Glory

Picture Day 2012

Landlady and friend Latika offering me coconut laddoos (sweets) 

Ravanna Effigies Ready to Burn

Vegetarian Lunch, so scrumptous

Yesterday was Picture Day at my office.  I proclaimed it so, because there are certain milestones in an elementary teacher’s academic year that mark the passing of time, and Picture Day is an important fall landmark.  I did NOT miss the woman asking me to smile and say “Good morning, Children” as if we were teaching at a school featured in Little House on the Prairie, but S. has never been an easy photo taker.  Suffice it to say we got the best of about 20 shots and called it a day.  BTW, I did have a new outfit for picture day, like many of my former students, and was feeling very satisfied, until someone told me it was lovely on me, and this material was what they wore during the rainy season. WHAT? Darn!  Thought I had it going on, but I still miss some basic knowledge about how to rock the clothing.  The textile world here is complicated enough with the different types of cotton available, many named by the state from which they hail, which are, btw, states I don’t recognize as state names.  Then there is the cotton-silk blend, the raw silk, the silk chiffon, the chiffon that isn’t silk, and some other kind of silk that I can’t remember the name of but that feels like butter in your hands.  The prices in the saree material I’ve looked at range radically, from the modest 1,200 Rs to some gorgeous silk from Bangalore and other places quickly climbing into the 30,000 Rs range.  In case you’ve wondering about the conversion rate (~48 Rs to the dollar) one is quite reasonable, and the other requires a rich person’s salary.  More shopping must be the answer to my relative ignorance of types of textiles available to the Indian woman.

Today is October 24^th, United Nations Day around the world and at my former elementary school. I’ve been thinking lots about my former colleagues these days after watching a GLEE! episode and wondering what the Glee Club thinks of the drop-dead gorgeous new male with the equally gorgeous voice.  I’ll have to call an online meeting soon.  Here in India today is a holiday known as Dussehra.  The nine-day Durga fest ended yesterday and this day commemorates a couple of great Hindu stories.  Allow me to give a brief summary of some of the fiercest stories ever told.  I used to get freaked out when a nun would read us the gory Lives of the Saints book, but they do not hold a votive candle to the evil doing and blood-letting in Hindu myths. 

The most common tale is of the mighty demon, Mahishasura, who worshipped Lord Shiva so as to be blessed with the boon of eternal life.  However, he misused this gift and went about killing and harassing innocent souls.  Intimidated with all his power, all the gods from swargaloka (Heaven) appealed to Lord Shiva to tame the demon.  It was only a matter of time before a woman appeared to save everything from going to hell.

Then Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwar (Shiva) united their supreme powers and created a divine being ‘SHAKTI’ or ‘DURGA’ the Warrior Goddess.  [Something about that name is so kick-butt.] When Mahishasura happened to see this divine beauty, Durga, he was mesmerized, and approached her with the intention of marriage.  Durga agreed, putting forth the one condition that he must win her over in a duel.

As most evil forces are known to be, Mahishasura too, was proud of his power, and agreed to the combat.  The duel went on for nine nights, and at the end of the 9^th night Goddess Durga beheaded Mahishasura.  So, the nine nights for which the war was fought are the “Navratri’ and the 10^th day is celebrated as ‘Vijayadashmi’. 

The other popular legend is that of Lord Rama, who wanted to rescue Sita from the clutches of evil King Ravana, and prayed to Goddess Durga in nine aspects for nine days to gather the strength and power to Kill Ravana.  For 9 days he prayed, and on the tenth day, Rama killed Ravana, as seen in the Ram Leela [effigy burning of Ram] that is enacted at various locations.  Please see the picture below of Mother Durga to understand why she is the ‘patron saint’ of most females.  She is just fierce, riding on a tiger with those 8 arms full of all the gods' weapons, and sometimes she appears as Kali with her bloody tongue sticking out.  A worthy metaphor for all it takes to be a woman these days.  I think of her as a Hindu Hillary Clinton.  If you look closely at my picture from Picture Day, you'll see I have a new necklace of Durga that I'm sporting these Durga Days.

We’re off tonight to see the burning of the effigies and I will give a full report.  For now, take a look at some of the effigies I was able to snap in the car while we drove by.  They look rather spooky, and also a bit like rockets with faces.  It promises to be a fun afternoon and evening