Re-birth

Though my hair is already about half-an-inch long, it is never late to share the experience with everyone. Yes, I had shaved my head, almost a month back, on account of my sacred-thread ceremony (poite in Bengali, janau in Hindi, upbit in Sanskrit). For those who do not know what this ceremony means, it is the process by which a Brahmin kid becomes a full Brahmin. Yes, I am not a kid and hence there were a lot of questions about “why so late?”, to all those, I have just one answer, “everything happens on its own time”. Yes, it was quite delayed, partly because of my own reluctance on this ceremony, partly financial, partly not finding suitable dates or time. Like any other Bengali/Hindu ceremony, there are fixed dates for this ceremony too and most of them fall during summers. This year, it was in winter and hence my parents decided that it can happen without any problem. Having such kind of ceremony in summer is really pathetic, due to the heat and humidity near Kolkata, and so, it’s only those I-have-to-get-married-soon people, who have their weddings in summers, others prefer the ceremonies in winters.

Coming to the ceremony, it was not very grand. I was against inviting a lot of people, but then, since I will never have a grand wedding, so I agreed to my parents’ wishes for inviting more than hundred people. The ceremony in itself is almost like wedding ceremony. So, I was awake before dawn on the d-day, ate little something, and then went back to bed (I was not supposed to sleep or change clothes). The main ceremony involved yajna or fire sacrifice and puja to all great Gods of Hinduism. I had little to do, my father was doing all of it along with two pundits. I was busy clicking pictures. Then after half the yajna and the offerings to fore-fathers were made (it was sad that the fore-mothers don’t get anything), I was called for shaving my head, which I did readily since my hair-line is already receding. The actual ceremony involves getting ears pierced too, but I stayed away because of my already huge ear lobes and fear of infection. Then I was applied haldi a-la wedding style. Then after the bath, I was wearing saffron dhoti and sat through the rest of the fire sacrifice. After the ceremony was over, I was supposed to beg for food, and I was supposed to spend the next three days inside house (no seeing sun) and cooking and eating whatever I had collected in the begging process, and I was not supposed to show my face to anyone. Well, things are quite easy in 21^st century and I was left alone by evening. Though I still did not eat anything substantial, so I was fasting for almost twelve hours by evening. Then I was changed to rajbesh, which is basically elegant attire, I was happy with the dhoti that was gifted to me. Finally, by evening, I was able to eat some food.

The title “re-birth” comes from the fact that this is called the second birth of a Brahmin. If I was dead before this ceremony, I would have become a ghost (brahmadotti in Bengali, which means Brahmin ogre) which lives on banyan trees. Incidentally there is a big banyan tree behind my house in Konnagar, also everyone knows about the big banyan tree near Bangalore. Luckily, I am now a complete Brahmin and hence both the banyan trees and the tourists are saved. Now, I can officially perform pujas, (it is hard to survive in Bangalore on single source of income). One of my friends has booked me for his house-warming yajna, but, I do not think I am qualified to do that, but for smaller pujas like Lakshmi or Narayan puja, I can do, provided I can get hold of a book which describes everything.

By the end of the ceremony, I had a lot of gifts, most of them were shirts or clothing materials. The cutest gift was by one of my uncles, which was a set of tea-glasses of different colours. The hugest one was a dinner set by my sister’s colleagues. I got two books, both are awesome, and I also got one Parker and one Pierre Cardin pen. But the real thing I learnt is how to wear a dhoti.

Oh, I forgot to add, I have to wear the sacred thread now, which is nine strings of thread, in three sets of three, worn around the left shoulder. I am supposed to not talk while having food and I am not supposed to eat outside, I am not supposed to eat meat too, but that thing we bengalies have left long ago. I am supposed to follow a lot of other things, and I have to do regular puja at home or at least recite the Gayatri Mantra two times a day. This I do already (once a day though) and thankfully it won’t change.

To summarize, the experience was good. I had never gone bald since I attained by senses, so my head feels lighter and colder most of the times. And also it is good to do a yajna or two in a year, it feels nice to do something which is a tradition for more than 3000 years. It also feels good to feed a lot of people and more so after they compliment that the food was good. I agree, I did not make the food, but at least I found the caterer who made the good food. It was good to see a lot of people, whom you hardly meet owning to our own busy lives. And it always feels great to open gift boxes!

P.S.: I am available for your Brahman-bhojan requests.