Customs, etc.

And there was the whole Karva Chauth debacle :) Being the naive new bride, who finds all sorts of mushy stuff interesting, I decided I was going to do it this year! Never mind the tall tales of saving your husband from Yama to cursing the crocodile, to everything else in between.. somehow, it just strikes a chord with you. Disbelief notwithstanding, there is something so "deep" about fasting from sunrise through sunset just so you can be sure that your husband lives a long and prosperous life, wouldn't you agree? My voracious Googling gave me details of the 'rituals' to be performed - none of which I was able to carry out to the T, being a South Indian with no access to some of the stuff, and better yet, no idea of what some words meant - aipun, chonp, roli, WHAT!?

I'm not a North Indian, and so, the whole deal of Karva Chauth cropped up only after all the Yash Chopra and Karan Johar exposure I got in college. I know, I know.. it isn't THAT romantic when you wait (in vain, might I add) for the moon to actually be seen.. Especially when you live on the first floor of a mid-rise with all high(er)-rises around you, and also on a very cloudy day to boot! But I stayed the trooper I was. Did the sindoor-mangalsutra-bangles routine in the morning, and came home and did a little puja of sorts. But in the end, all was well - was pretty proud of having given up my 'one-most-important-thing-to-get-me-through-any-day'. FOOD!

Poor B, running around, trying to make sure I wasn't going to keel over :) I'm stronger than I'm given credit for, at times! In retrospect, why is it that even to this day, people BELIEVE in the tradition of Karva Chauth?

Is fasting for a day going to really truly ensure that your husband doesn't die early? Or is it just a conviction that ups your faith-ante? Younger generations these days, people say, are more 'ritualistic' than 'spiritual'. I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree. But I doubt we're ritualistic because we don't want to take the chance of scoffing at long established tradition, as they claim..

Speaking for myself, having been displaced from the comfortable Indian-milieu, I'd rather perform some of these rituals to keep myself grounded to my roots, I think. In the process, I learn something more about other cultures even from other parts of my own country; and whether I tend to agree with the reasoning behind certain customs or not, I've learnt something new at the end of the day! I also do my share of baking a mean green-bean-casserole for Thanksgiving, going to Durga Puja functions with my Bong friends, setting up a Christmas tree every December, going to the temple for Tamil New Years, celebrating St.Patrick's day with gusto ;), etc.