Happy birthday, Krishna and India

Last week, we celebrated two birthdays, one of a Hindu god and one of a country.

Lord Krishna is considered to be among the most attractive of the Hindu gods, which is supported by the fact that he has approximately 16,000 girlfriends. The fact that he is blue also adds to his sex appeal, as well as his ability to take a different form each time he sleeps with a different gopi (shepherdess).

Krishna was said to have been born at 12 midnight on August 15th, so at around 9 pm, women gather at the local temple and begin chanting and playing tabla/harmonium in celebration. I spent about 2 to 3 hours just chanting, playing instruments, and laughing (not to mention keeping an eye on my saree to make sure that it didn’t catch fire–this didn’t seem to be of concern to any of the other women). I think that my interest perplexed my host mother, given the fact that I understand 1 in every 10 Hindi words and, needless to say, my Sanskrit is lacking as well. Regardless, it was a really fascinating and warm environment...

The whole alter and pooja set-up was quite interesting, as well. Along with the standard alter offerings (fruit, money, fire, etc.), there was a golden cradle set up with a Krishna statue, and part of the prayer ceremony was rocking the cradle.

Then at midnight, a small Krishna statue is put inside of a hollowed-out cucumber and forced out to mimic Krishna’s birth. The cucumber is cut up and eaten in this rose petal-cucumber salad.

I’ve asked approximately 10 people a) why a cucumber? And b) what is the significance of eating Krishna’s mother’s womb? No one seems to know.


The other birthday was India’s Independence Day. I attended a celebration at a local boys orphanage, which provides school tuition, school supplies, food, housing, and job training to boys without parents or with single parents unable to provide for them. It was an interesting program: a series of performances of Sanskrit verses by students, each recitation topped with a vigorous ‘JAI HIND!’. There was also a tumbling team that made a pyramid of people with complex gymnastic moves and then had a small boy climb to the top and say ‘JAI HIND!’. The whole day sort of felt like a time warp...


On a completely unrelated note, I made buckwheat pancakes for my host family yesterday. I gave a plate of them to Kishaan, a servant who comes in the morning, and he just gave me this look, like, ‘What am I supposed to do with these?’ He ate the pancakes with dal and garum masala and said they were delicious.

I also made coriander pesto for my family twice (they flip over pesto, it’s incredible.), and both times, they seemed to enjoy the dish with lots of ketchup.