Pooja

A Pooja is generally a Hindu Prayer. It is worship to the Deities of the Hindu Religion in the form of prayer, offerings and sarcrifices. In India with its very religious population Poojas are very important. Well, interesting enough, we had a Pooja here in my new office space. Religious as the Indians are, everything (wether buildings, poeple or geographical spots) is blessed regularly in order to pray for good luck in the futer. Since the company is extending rapidly, two new office spaces are rented now and I have moved into one of them. Consequently, a Pooja was held for these new offices in order to ask the deities for continuous success and prosperity in the future. So, one day when I arrived, a young men in a traditional dress of a priest was preparing an altar on a table in one of the office rooms. He put statues of Hindu deities on the table and coverd them with flowers and colours. The rooms were filled with the odours of incences. Then suddenly everyone removed his shoes and went to this particular room. The priest started to pray. A prayer consists of a monotonuous, continuous reciting of Sanskrit verses (which nobody understands!!). Meanwhile he poured a liquid (I guess coconutwater or something like that) over the altar and fluttered around the incences in order to disperse the odour all around the place. Then he distributed rice corns and petals to every one. I must say I felt a bit out of place. Still I tried as good as possible to adapt to the local customs and follow the procedure and concentrate with the same serious concentration like my collegues on what was going on. Then, the priest walked around with the liquid and poured a few drops on every desk and computer in the office and he did the same with every person standing around in his or her socks. Finally, after holding the rice and petals in our hands for about 15 minutes and listening to the not understandable Sanskrit verses, one by one spread the these ingredients over the altar while praying and whishing whatever and again, being blessed by the priest. Again, I felt a bit out of place. But it was a nice and interesting experience. I find it remarkable that the Pooja was followed not only by my Hindu collegues but also by my Christian and Muslim collegues. Again, this incident represents the dynamic coexistence of the three religions (at least here in the south) I can and could observe very often. Thus, a toast on the Southern-Indian religious tolerance:-)