Monday Sept 12-- My driver arrives at my riverside hotel to take me to the office for an 8:30 arrival time. I have a nice office, they immediately gave me printer, scanner, mobile internet card for out of office, and there is a wireless button that I press and it has my own tone ring, and a guy comes running, to get me whatever I need (or want, ha ha).
 |
| Easy Button |
 |
| Office, large, good a/c |
Every day at 2pm the man comes from the Banaras home with a homemade lunch in stainless steel stacked dishes inside a thermos type container, and I, Ashok and Siddharth eat and chat about traditions, the food, the economy, etc.
There is a Puja (religious ceremony) going on for 15 days right now, where the father of the family that has no parents living, must go each morning to the Ganges or a shrine in his home to pray for 6 generations back of his ancestors, and pray to each one and name them all in order, for good fortune and for them to help us prosper on this earth.
This includes offering their favorite foods each morning to the little shrine, and eating only their ancestors favorite foods for these 15 days. (Many men also shave their heads down to a tiny tuft on top-- looking like Hari Krishnas.) So at lunch Mr. Gupta senior tells how each thing is made and what is in it and how old it is, some dishes are 500 years old, etc.
 |
| Guptas only can eat here-- with me included. Nice honor. |
 |
| Each thing tastes so delicious and different |
Guptas are "Jain" which means extremely vegetarian and excluding garlic and onion because they "inflame the genitals" is the way it has come from tradition. Siddharth, the younger generation (he is approx. 30), will eat the onion and garlic dishes at lunch (as will I) and it should include no alcohol but the Guptas ignore this part.
No comments:
Post a Comment