Navraatri, Ramlila and Divali Preparations

A few weeks ago, I completed my ten day fast. The few people who heard about my fast wanted to know if I was crazy. Several people even ventured out to say that "my God must be a demanding kind of God to want this from me." The beauty of this is that nothing is demanded in Hinduism.....maybe suggested, even recommended, but never demanded. Your life is not damned. I related Krsna's words to Arjuna, "There is no unforgivable sin or sinner" to Dostoevsky's idea of one onion and the river of Hell. If anything, you build some kind of discipline from fasting. Food is something people will not readily give up...Not food but the taste of food.
While I fasted, my kids were inquisitive. Several of my students wanted to know what cranberries mixed with unsalted peanuts tasted like. They asked about my sweetened pineapples and about my dislike for raisins. Most of them did not know I was fasting but they established in their minds that their teacher had a wierd kind of diet.
My fast ended on the day after the worship of the nine girls. It was a successful one. I guess the key is to be mentally prepared for it and take it one day at a time. Even now, I am preparing for the other fast in March of next year when we celebrate Navraatri again.
Once again we heard the Ramayana and we remembered Ramlila as we saw it in Trinidad when we were little. It is hard to remember festivals when you live in a country where people work everyday but this time, I think I am excited for Divali. Maybe it is the thought of the last Divali I will spend in my parent's house but I am definitely excited. I was telling Ami that for us, it is such a wonderful day. Last year, after we had decorated the house with the diyas, for a fleeting instant I felt as if we were citizens of Ayodhya who had lined the streets with the very same clay diyas awaiting their king and queen's return. I know that at Christmas time, i will feel the same way when I think of a special day set aside for the world to recognize the birth of a supersoul but for this week, I am happy. The kind of nervous happy that you feel when something good is about to happen. Divali will be celebrated on Friday.