Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Car Puja

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Today, our driver Devendra did a Bisu Karma puja (don't fault me if this is spelled wrong. No one can tell me how to spell this in English). Apparently, it is a sacred ritual offering to the god who-helps-the-cars-run-well . One of the cars is a Kia so it can use all the help it can get.

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Our 16 passenger van. It is the only van we could get in Nepal that had seat belts. I feel a little guilty when we drive pass buses that look like this. I also feel bad when people try to wave our 'bus' down so they can get a ride.

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The offering

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A little sprinkle of rice for eating (which was later eaten by our chickens).

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The 4 wheel-drive Kia receives a special offering for the engine.

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Gosh knows the tires need all the help they can get because of the pothole roads here

Axel said the god didn't do so well when his motorbike kept stalling today when idle. Maybe Devendra should have given him more rice?

1 comment:

Boquinha said...

Awesome. I love ritual. It's so concrete and kinesthetic. Something so cool about symbolically putting a belief into action like that. And bonus, chicken feed!