Puja and the Feast of Kali

Tomorrow the Feast of Kali begins which is a Hindu tradition, and each family buys a goat to slaughter to insure a profitable and healthy new year. I am told that if the family doesn't do this, the neighbors will think that the family is too poor to afford the goat so whether or not they want to, people feel pressured into continuing the old customs. Nice to know they have Jones' here as well.

Puja is a Tibetan Buddhist ceremony which entails drums, a blowing of a very large horn, chanting and prayers. In the morning, it lasts for one and a half hours and is more effective than any alarm clock. The first morning, I thought it was a low flying airplane, then maybe a leaf blower before finally realizing what it was. I have yet to witness it as I have been a sleepyhead. Tomorrow, Tamdrin said I could go with him to the Puja in the central stoopa, which is a religious building, many sided. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I will take pictures and see if I can download them onto a computer.

There are so many sects of Buddhism and Hinduism here that I am never sure what traditions belong to whom.

Funny how small things tell so much. In Jordan, as well as Saudi, Merrill reports, there are almost no dogs. In the very fancy hotel Merrill and I stayed in, four beautiful swimming pools, marble terraces, palm trees and gardens everywhere, there were feral cats that looked like they had a very tough life and would come up to the table and beg for scraps. In Petra and as Merrill and I drove through the small towns, we saw not one dog. In Nepal, they are everywhere. They are subdued, skinny and pay little obvious attention to people, motorcycles racing by as they sleep on the edges of the road. The monastery has three dogs, two a gift from Julie's group who the monks play with and care for. But here, clearly,dogs are dogs and not part of the family. I have seen no cats. Goats also wander about here. I worry that there won't be so many after tomorrow; we shall see.

The other thing that is so clearly different is that there are people everywhere, on motorbikes, in shops, on the sidewalks or standing in the street talking, walking, together. I feel a bit odd, walking about alone but I feel comfortable. There is no sense of hostility towards a lone woman. I am told that a married Indian woman wears the red dot on her forehead to signify her marital status, Tibetan women wear an apron over their dress, Nepalese women wear a red bracelet on their right arm. It seems every culture wants to know immediately whether a woman is available or not.

It is odd though, not to have anyone to speak to until I have lunch with Tamdrin and the other monastery manager whose name I can't spell.
I am grateful for their revelations about this culture.