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ZULU
I was still lying on my bed . I could not wake up .Just could not wake up .It was a
saturday morning , after a long long gap ." And why should I wake up ? " I asked myself.
The bed was ofcourse very cozy .Now in Norway I share my room with Alok , a guy who by no means is more active
than me and that implies he also loves sleeping well past afternoon on weekends .A typical weekend morning starts
for us after noon unless we go out of Oslo .
But what you see when you open your eyes ,rather just an eye ,
when you are just trying to wake up.Alok is coming out of bathroom and he has already taken bath .
" Oh My Gwad " I screamed"Alok you all right yaar ?" Today is saturday man and
we slept late yesternight .Very late in fact .
And there was a chance that we still have a little hangover ! Alok just smiles.
Smiles and keeps smiling ."It's rakhi today" .And by the time he has completed his sentence.
I am off to the bathroom . And even before he has put his cloths on I am back .I pray .
A rakhi special prayer . Get a plate put some sindoor into it which has come to us along
Rakhi .From India .From our sisters . Norway is not exactly a religious place by Hindu
definition . So Agnee Devata, our version of Fire God like other Hindu gods is tough to find here.
And to stop him everywhere there is the Oslo Fire Dept .The fire vans reach destination as
soon as it gets a little hot ,much before Agnee devata appears . And we guys dont smoke so
we did not have a lighter even . We searched and searched for something remotely similar
to our Indian match box and finally we found that .And a few minutes after the search ended
Arti was ready . Agnee Dev in his full glow .Alok takes the role of a traditional Indian girl
or rather a sister and ties Rakhi around my wrist and I do the same for him .
We unwrap a pack of chocolate ,filled with wine and feed ourselves .
We influenced many other Indians who eventually followed us . All of them almost invariably
turned themselves into make-shift sisters and many wrists wore a brotherly look soon after .
There were ofcourse many Norwegians who were puzzled by this shiny thing tied to our wrists .
And many of us started preaching the virtues of this festival which glorifies the
sanctum relation between a brother and sister .It really feels proud being an Indian
outside . So much to boast of our culture ,in its pure form !
And before i forget let me confide something
"The best part about Rakhi ,this year was that there was no danger of some girl taking pity on you and
taking over the role of a make-shift sister ."
yours truly zulu
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