Saturday, December 04, 2010

The Mystery

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 17; the seventeenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Image source - InstaBlogImages
Incident 1 - Chai boy


I was stuck in a small village. The car had broken down. Saw the chai shop nearby and went straight in. The driver was fixing the car. I ordered for chai and sat next to a well dressed young guy. At some distance, on the ground, sat a guy with a glass next to him. The chai boy served him chai in that glass, which the man carried back with him. During the conversation with the guy next to me, I got to know that the person with his own glass was a dalit, an untouchable. And the guy next to me was from an upper caste.

That night, i stayed in the small town nearby to visit the famous monastery. I met the same two guys in a hotel. The dalit was a chai boy in the hotel. He served me and the upper caste guy, chai and food.

Incident 2 - Friday festival


At the customer factory, is a rather unique tradition. Every friday, after 5 pm there will be a prayer and pooja ceremony for the machines they use. Every week a new worker performs the pooja. I was told that this is predominantly a Hindu tradition. On the day Harris Thomas performed the pooja, he distributed cake as the so called prasad to everybody. Like every friday that day was no different.

Incident 3 - Launch


It was the most ambitious satellite project of India. The launch date was nearing and the satellite was to be mounted on the rocket. Sheik Aslam was the leader of the project. He was supervising the operations. Just before the automatic machine was to be switched on to take the satellite to the launch vehicle, Mr Aslam performed a traditional aarthi to the elephant God of Hindus. He sprinkled the holy water on all the scientists around him. As we all know today, the launch was successful.

Incident 4 - Village dargah


My driver asked for a day off. Balwinder Singh had been a good friend as he drove me through India. He said that he had to go to his village dargah to perform the annual tradition. Mr Singh's ancestors had settled in southern India because of trade prospects. As a family tradition, Balwinder's family was to present a new peacock feather to the muslim dargah on its annual day. I joined Mr Singh's family in the festivities. It was amazing to watch more Hindus than muslims in the dargah that day. Sikhs were in small numbers but respected well.

Klaus Sebastian closed his diary and pen, in the flight back to his home. His stay in India was incredible. He was determined to de mystify the mystery of castes and relgions in modern India, when he is back at home in Germany.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

23 comments:

Someone is Special said...

Incredible mystery about India.. Thanks for penning down.. All the Best for BAT..

Stop by,Someone is Special - The Mysery

--Someone is Special--

Lost in thoughts said...

Thanks sis, will read your mystery soon.

adarshs said...

a foreigner always finds the caste religion etc in india as starange n mysterious....mayb indians shud as well...a heart touching take on the take...salutes :)

Lost in thoughts said...

Yes Adarsh, it amazes me as well. I know some background of the castes and religions in India but some practices will stay for long. Good and bad.
Thanks for your comments.

MuddassirShah said...

You are amazing bro,
You very well mix social messages in your competition posts and make sure people find it entertaining at the same time.
Another wonderful post.
Good luck for BATON :)

Vibhuti Bhandarkar said...

WOW this is so true.
Incredible is India varied in traditions, religions and castes. Yet it stands united in its diversity.
From a foreigner's point of view ours must be such a mysterious land ...
WOnderful post once again!!!
All the best for BAT 17

Beyond Horizon said...

Mystifying indeed...unity in diversity...

Rumya said...

You have cleverly explained, in short, the complexities of this vast land.

Diverse cultures, faiths, old and new traditions, thinking, practices are so mixed that we must call this a Land of Mysteries, that can intrigue anyone.

It is still a mystery how there is still some integrity and unity in all this diversity.

All the Best for BAT 17.

Srikanth said...

I would say your post is an entirely different one among BAT contestants including me.. You didn't chose a murder or kidnap. Good one

Lost in thoughts said...

@Muddasir - thanks for your comments. I realised that I have been trying to send some messages through blogaton posts. Nice observation. Thanks again for this.

Lost in thoughts said...

@Vibuti- yes, we are really mysterious. This diversity amazes me too. We are the most complex nation. And I am proud of that.

Lost in thoughts said...

@Beyond Horizon- thanks for the comments. Indeed a different nation.

Lost in thoughts said...

@Rumya - yes, it amazes me on how we remain united with such diverse cultures and thoughts.

Lost in thoughts said...

@Srikanth - thanks for comments. The fact is - I could not get such mysterious ideas.

Amity said...

I am with Rumya Lost...in a nutshell, she said it all...

True, our existence in this planet is truly a mystery...

well done Lost!

Good luck!

Cubic Zirconia said...

A nice experience in a village which the true peace you can get it.

Lost in thoughts said...

@Amity and Cubic - thanks for your comments.

m7 said...

nice take!! :D

Kshitij KK Khurana said...

Hmmmm! I would rate this post as decent. But not at par with what I expect from you.

I loved the ones you wrote in the earlier rounds. I think this one lacks 'impact'...or maybe not.. it's a personal opinion.

:)

Lost in thoughts said...

@Kshitij - thanks for your comments. I think many would have felt like the way you felt. This would help in improving (I hope so)

Dr. Pratibha Singh said...

nice post delivered through the incidences.great!all the best for BAT.

aativas said...

Amazing Narration! Yes, India is a BIG MYSTERY!

Guria said...

Awesome! The most beguiling mystery... Great write-up! ATB for BAT17 :)