Grihapravesham on 29-Apr-2007 ::: Part 02

We entered the house, even as one of the shaasthrigall showed up there. The other 3 were en route.

The single dude then started belting out instructions asking for this and that. All of us started running around catering to those commands. Just then, Ramaraajan came there, with the cow, calf and a lady carrying a jug of milk - all part of the rituals.

Then all the priests showed up and as usual chaos set in - "shitha, rendu thaambaallam eduthundu varaella" or "maami, maami, homathukku kolam podungo" or "maamaa, dharbaya ready pannikongo" or "ambi, konjam neiy kondu varaya" etc etc.

We were then asked to produce the pomegranate, sweet lime and apple that was ordered earlier. Sounds of "aahaa" and "achachacho" filled the air. That was because all of us had forgotten to take it out of the fridge and keep it in the bag, when we started from B'Nagar.

I was then "politely" instructed to fetch the aforementioned fruits. The cow-man and also another local guy from the nearby departmental stores, categorically told us that the shops selling fruits would open only at 8.

But me folks would have none of it. So I drove out to the main road and enquired at the two veg shops that were open. One pointed to the other and the other told me that he doesn't have any. And that the shops open at 8 and also that if I needed one immediately, I could go to some juice shop somewhere and ask them for the fruits.

Thanking him for the very original idea, I headed towards the city. But even before I left my panchayat ellai, I called my mother. She asked me to head back saying that other rituals were waiting to begin and that was more important than the presence of those fruits.

While returning, I made a call to Superthumby and asked him to buy these fruits. The great friend that he is, he agreed without even a nanosecond's hesitation.

So all things being set, I came back home. Just in time, coz the cow and calf were being held tightly by the cow-man and all were standing near the first set of steps that lead to my main door. The head shaasthrigall was there and so were my parents.

The "gho" pujai was completed and we then spread out big jamakkaallams for the cow to enter the inside of the house. The j'k'lams were used mainly to prevent the cow from slipping on the new floor.

I think the cow was well trained in doing these things. Whether it was trained in the shed or it picked it up on the job, I will never know. But it came in with an air of "been there done that", looked around and then started walking away. Of course, the cow-man was still holding its reins, but it still seemed to have a nonchalant way of going about its activities.

After we paid our respects to the cow-man and the milk-woman, the priests started doing more rituals. I simply cannot go into each and everything, mainly coz the whole sequence is a bit of a blur for me now.

Then we were all called for the navagraha homam.