December 5th, 2021
It is the auspicious month, Karteeka maasam, according to south Indian (Telugu) calendar. Throughout this month, many in the region worship Lords Shiva and Vishnu. A key part of these rituals is lighting a lamp every morning before dawn and again at dusk. Today's the last day of this month, and, lighting a lamp, first thing in the morning, is all the more significant because the lamp, lit in banana stems, gets a "send off" in water, so it can head straight to heaven. My mom did this ritual well before 5am local time, and sent us a picture on our family's whatsapp group. I am not nearly as sincere about my religiousness as my mom, and I most certainly did not write a blog post about this before. But...Mom's lamp sendoff this year was no ordinary event!
My sister's family has been living in the northeastern state of Assam and they have not made a trip home to visit my parents in over five months. Moreover, my sister and brother-in-law recently celebrated their milestone wedding anniversary, and it all called for an occasion for the family to meet. For them to meet either in the north (Jorhat, Assam) or the south (Hyderabad, Telangana), it would take three flights and almost the entire day. So the two parties decided on a quick weekend trip, mid-way, at a hotel in Bhuvaneshwar, Orissa, and visit Puri Jagannadh temple while there. The plans were made about a week ago, and knowing my mom's compulsive instinct towards Karteeka maasam, my sister strictly warned her ahead of time against bringing any combustible lamp-lighting supplies on board their 1.5hour flight. Traveling amidst the pandemic is risky enough and they clearly did not need fire hazards to go along. :)
Just as they all arrived in Bhubaneshwar, finished a visit of the Puri Jagannadh temple, and settled into their hotel room, a cyclone warning had been issued for the area and it began pouring down heavily. They were confined to their hotel premises all of the next day. The last day of Karteeka maasam also coincided with their last day of the trip. My dad was in the midst of his anxiety attacks, typical for him during travel, and my brother-in-law was busy wrapping up the logistics of hotel, online boarding and transportation in the middle of cyclone, etc. Mom not only expertly dealt with my dad, but also completed this ritual of sending the lamp to heaven by 5am, sitting in a hotel room without her usual supplies!
Mom explained her plan of attack to me over phone after returning home. She made a mini rangoli with turmeric and vermillion that she packed from home- she never leaves home without them. She also packed cotton wicks from home. Traditionally, the lamp is lit in a diya made of banana stem. While at dinner the night before, she saw the hotel staff refilling the lemon wedges at the salad bar. She had asked him to sneak her a couple of fresh cut wedges. She carefully separated the skins from those wedges and used them as the base for her lamp, in lieu of banana stems. For grease, traditionally cow butter or sesame oil is used, neither of them were readily availble in her hotel room, or so she thought...until she saw the small plastic packages of butter served with their breakfast toast. She used the coffeemaker to boil some water and floated the plastic pans of butter in them until they melted. She borrowed some matches from another wait staff at the hotel and finally lit the wick sitting in a lemon shell using the butter from her breakfast and sent it to "heaven" in a pond aka cereal bowl full of water. As the naivedyam (food offering), she had the whole fruits from previous day's breakfast, of course!
She sure was happy as a clam all day! They even visited another local temple while killing time before their flight back home, when the weather cleared up a bit! My mom's grit and commitment for traditions never cease to amaze me!
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