Sunday

No superbowl over here. Not that I will particularly miss that ritual, and I was treated this morning to a very different type of communal gathering. The event was an "akhand path", or presentation of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scripture), with all the attendant pomp, kirtan, prashad (consecrated sweet food), head covering, bowing, and throne (the scripture is treated as if it were a human king in his court). This was not in a gurdwara, however, nor to commemorate a particular saint's or guru's day. A couple in the middle-class neighborhood where I reside had added an extra floor to their house, and they wanted to hold an inauguration ceremony, and lunch for all their relatives, as a way of consecrating the new rooms properly.

So people took their shoes off and paraded to the upstairs room, or milled around downstairs where the caterers were drinking sweet coffee, and eating fried pakaurhas (vegetables, potato and cheese). The big surprise, given that I was only invited yesterday, was that I was to sing kirtan myself!

Luckily I didn't have much time to panic, as we packed up the harmonium this morning, and drove over to the house in the rain. With my teacher accompanying me on tabla, I sang one of the three shabads I know, playing harmonium, in a room of about 30-40 people, and over the loudspeakers. I think it was received well, and afterwards my ragi gave a short sermon, where he explained who I was and that I was here to learn kirtan. At least, that's what I think he said, it was all in Punjabi and no one translated for me.

Then some professional ragis took over, and the rest of the time was kind of a blur/bore of meeting relatives, having the same limited conversation over and over (because of language barrier) where I try to explain what city I'm from (the average person only knows New York and California - although one kid today who had worked in Bank of America tech support correctly identified Helena as the capital of Montana), and having too many fried cheese things forced into me. Finally, there was a big lunch with Gajrela, one of my favorite desserts (sweet, shredded carrots), and ultimately I was very grateful to be invited. It took a lot out of me, and I certainly don't have a perfect record in anything like the good guys will have at the end of today.