Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Today is 8216;Kaaradayan Nombu8217;, the Karva Chauth of TN and Kerala, which falls in February-March in the Malayali month of Kumbhom/Meenom aka Masi/Panguni in TN. Married women are meant to fast and pray for their husbands8217; longevity and single women are supposed to supplicate God for a 8220;good husband8221;. A cotton thread dyed in auspicious turmeric is worn like a mangalsutra. The prasad is the Nombu Adai, a strange, delicious steamed blob of rice powder, jaggery, lobia black-eyed beans, coconut bits and elaichi, eaten with white butter.
Today the ritual annoys many modern daughters-in-law who obviously wish their husbands well and want them around. But surely, cry many, it need not be an instrument of terror in the hands of ritual-crazy old ladies? And can8217;t the men participate, to contemporise the idea? Most curious is the old myth beneath the denunciations on either side of the generation gap: 8216;Savitri and Satyavan8217;, reversed in Greek myth by Orpheus and Eurydice. In the Yavana tale, it8217;s the man, Orpheus, who ventures into the Underworld to retrieve his dead wife. Alas, he blows it by turning back while still in the Underworld to check if she8217;s following and loses her forever.
My sentimental Indian instinct is to celebrate this as the 8220;triumph of love8221;. But look deeper. How could someone as strong-willed as Savitri go back to her parents and face a lifetime of 8220;I told you so8221;? I see this tale as one of nerve, endurance and cool resolve, like how Bjorn Borg played tennis. Who knows if Satyavan, who sounds quite gormless, was worth it after all? But Savitri8217;s force of will is awesome, working the system to her advantage and not losing face despite her disastrous choice.
