Basketball at Midnight

I’m leaving Rishikesh.

I know, you never thought I would.  A relaxing, climatically lovely city on a sacred river.  No rickshaws, no hassles, several friends, and a plethora of generally friendly people.

But it’s true, I’m off.  I leave tonight on a night bus to Delhi, and then will take a night train to about as close to the Nepali border as I can.  I will have two weeks between Nepal and Sikkim, and I’ll fly to Delhi from Bagdoga, West Bengal, two days before I go home.  If everything works out, I’ll meet up with Sakesh, the lawyer working for the Supreme Court, and his family when I’m in Delhi.

So that’s the plan.

Yesterday was both Durga Puja and the celebration of Lord Ram’s disposing of Ravana, the demon king.  Which one you celebrated depends on where you are in the country, it seems– Durga Puja in Bengal, and Ravana’s defeat elsewhere.  Regardless, they both are celebrating the destruction of evil demons by the good guys.  Frequently, the festival includes burning effigies of the demons in celebration.

Nicky and I got the idea that, to celebrate, we could make our own effigy and burn it.  We didn’t have a lot of guidance, but had a fantastic time creating a demon-destroying festival of our own from supplies easily found on the streets of Rishikesh.  The rest of this post will describe what we thought would make a meaningful festival.  Those who can’t deal with humor or silliness should probably stop reading now.

First you need to have a burnable effigy.  Rolled newspaper is a good material for the body and head, and with markers you can draw character features.  Creative use of dental floss and safety pins allowed us to avoid using tape, which doesn’t burn or releases toxic fumes.  A bloody tongue would probably be a fitting addition, though we didn’t add it.  A necklace or sash of body parts is good, as is a bloody sword.   Since it is a demon, it probably has more than two arms.  Ours had four.

Very importantly, the “demon essence” needs to be contained in the effigy.  The essence should be a suitable metaphor for an essence or soul/spirit.  As you probably know, a tomato is a fantastic metaphor for the soul.  The bright red color represents the passion and fire and life, and it, like one’s spirit, is full of valuable and moral things like anti-oxidants.  It’s skin is thin and it can be crushed, squashed, or bruised easily, even when it is housed in a paper bag or some other manifestation of the body.  Similarly, spirits are notorious for being wounded by casual bumps and bruises.  Finally, it’s generally easy to handle– a good roma tomato fits well in a hand– and this shows how one can (and perhaps should) take their spirit with them wherever they go.

Each participant in the festival also needs a “soul” to protect against the demons of everyday life; choose a healthy, unbruised one for obvious reasons.  I’m not sure if demons have souls, so for the demon I’ll refer to it as its essence.

The best time to perform the ritual is just after the sun goes down, since that is when the demon is presumably at its strongest, and it’s defeat at this time would be final.  Each participant should take their own soul/spirit in their right hand.  In their left, they should have a collection of peanuts, in shells or crushed.

Then, all participants should dance in a circle around the effigy many times.  They must hold their spirit-tomato close to their solar plexus (for protection); the left hand, with the crushed peanuts, should be pumped up and down or waved menacingly towards the demon-effigy.  Chant to Durga or Ram or generally just hoot and holler as desired.  The participants should circle at least three times; six or seven is probably good.  42, being the cross product of all that is bad (6) and all that is good (7) is probably the key number for the truly devout.

Once the circling and chanting is complete, everyone should gather in front of the demon-effigy and throw their peanuts at it.  Then, the designated firestarted can light the effigy while the group gathers arond to watch the destruction of the demon.

When the effigy is sufficiently burned, you will probably still have the demon-essence, possibly warm and somewhat baked.  One participant should make some statement about the defeat of darkness or evil and then smash the essence fully.  Do not let anyone eat the demon-essence, no matter how much they liked roasted tomatoes.  This is a temptation that will lead to full destruction of their own soul.

Each person should then eat their own souls that have been protected from demon; it will provide strength and goodness to their body.  

The final act of the festival is for all to eat a sweet in celebration of the casting out of demons from our lives, since that is so sweet!