Today is a national holiday. It’s Ganesh Chaturthi, so we had the day off from the government hospitals here in Hyderabad.
To pass the time, four of us went back to Sivananda to see the kids and see their pooja, the religious ceremony honoring Ganesh. I was very happy to see the kids again, today they were dressed in their fresh, sparkling new (literally) clothes. They were of course acting like kids-running, playing, and being generally rambunctious. They recognized us as soon as we walked up, which was touching. They all said “Happy Ganesh” to us, and one of the girls gave us ledu that she’d gotten.
Then we waited. Ganesh was apparently running late. About 45 minutes after his proposed arrival, the sound of drums could be heard coming down the path. There was a plaster Ganesh being wheeled down the pathway with his exuberant entourage of all ages.
They wheeled him up to the place where he would reside for the next 9 or 10 days, and then there was trouble. Apparently they didn’t realize that Ganesh would be hard to fit into his new home. After about 30 minutes of manipulating him, he finally made it to his temporary abode, and then the pooja began.
It was a whirl of adorning, praising, burning incense, throwing rice. Oh yes, and taking pictures. I think I will have a stack of photos to send back to Sivananda once I get home.
To an outsider, it was all an incredible spectacle, the likes of which we rarely see at home. The kids were excited as if they were American kids on Christmas morning.
We had to say our goodbyes fairly early to catch a cab back home. I’m very glad we got to see the kids again, and I’m again amazed that in spite of the battles that they have to fight–the ones they had no say in fighting in the first place–that they can still be kids. I feel a little sad and guilty that we’re essentially bungee parents, or even worse, bungee tourists. It’s one of the regrets I’ve had about this trip, that we haven’t had the time to build the relationships with the kids, and others we’ve come across.
I guess that a whole other trip.