Our first stop in the morning was to have our bus blessed to ensure a safe trip by a priest at an animist temple in town. He performs a small ceremony called “Puja” which entails placing lemons under the tires, smashing a coconut on the ground, lighting a small pot of fragrant smoky camphor, then walking around the bus to bless all of it. He then anoints our foreheads with spots of vermillion powder.
Outside the temple, a family cooked a simple Dosa (thin crispy pancake) meal on the concrete against the temple wall. The couple was there with their 9 year old daughter and newborn son. They’d been coming here for years to pray for a son after their daughter was born (sons are much more valued than daughters – see more on this later), and now that the woman had finally born a son, the extended family had returned to thank the Hindu gods for this blessing. The dark spots on the baby’s face are applied as a protective sign.
Outside the temple, a family cooked a simple Dosa (thin crispy pancake) meal on the concrete against the temple wall. The couple was there with their 9 year old daughter and newborn son. They’d been coming here for years to pray for a son after their daughter was born (sons are much more valued than daughters – see more on this later), and now that the woman had finally born a son, the extended family had returned to thank the Hindu gods for this blessing. The dark spots on the baby’s face are applied as a protective sign.
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