I have recently had a string of interesting encounters with Hinduism ever since my attendance of the Krishna ceremony in my local village mandir a fortnight ago (please read my blog post on March 31st to know more about that adventure). Perhaps the most unconventional among them was the blessing of my computer by the local village priest last week.
Ever since I commenced my Milaap Fellowship in rural West Bengal back in January, I have been working out of the office of a local MFI called VSSU (Vivekendra Sevakendra-O-Sishu Uddyan). I work there whenever I am not on the field visiting Milaap borrowers with representatives with a field partner of ours, DCBS. VSSU has a tie-up a DCBS. Because of this tie-up, DCBS was able to arrange comfortable lodging for me for the duration of my fellowship in VSSU’s guesthouse, which is adjacent to their office.The morning of last Wednesday started like any other day for me in the VSSU compound; I got out of bed, had a shower, went for a walk, had breakfast and began writing reports on my office desk by 10 am. However, something eccentrically occurred within 10 minutes of me getting into my usual report writing routine; a ‘pundit’ (Hindu priest) appeared in the office, conducting a ‘puja’ (a Hindu praying and blessing ritual) to all present VSSU staff.Even I was honoured with the same treatment. Yet even another companion of mine was bestowed with such blessings, my laptop. That is right, my MacBook Pro, the main computing device that I use to write up my blog posts to all you Milaap blog loves, had a puja conducted on it by the pandit. This entailed him praying and blessing my laptop by reciting several Sanskrit mantras deriving from the Hindu scriptures, followed by the placing of a flower just above the laptop’s keyboard; and finally employing the renowned Hindu gesture of the palms of both of his hands touching together to finalise the ritual.Irrespective of your religious and spiritual beliefs, you may concur that this was certainly an unusual and yet interesting encounter with Hinduism. For me, it has been another intriguing interaction with my Hindu heritage. It certainly made my day.Without further ado, here are a few pictures of the puja being conducted for my laptop:
