■□■
原文
■□■
DURGA PUJA
The next day the Puja began. In Makaibari T.E.
there were two Pujas going on, one in Fulbari and
one in Makaibari, two different villages.
The first morning Uli and I went to Makaibari to
have a first look and to find out what was going
on.
Now the temple like construction of bamboo and
clothwas finished and decorated beautifully.
Inside therewere the statues of the gods, also
covered withdecorations. In front of them were
oil lamps and sacrifices, mainly fruits and
flowers. In a circle around it sat a priest and
some young people praying.
Sometimes they turned on the microphone and then
the prayers could be heard all over the valley.
When we arrived we immediately were offered chairs
on the nearby stage, we talked to some girls and
boys of our age and to some children, some of
them spoke a perfect English.
We also got a redpatch of rice on our forehead,
a banana leaf plate with sweets and fruits and
a cup of tea.
At noon we went back to the guesthouse for lunch.
In the afternoon we went to Kurseong to write
e-mails and then we visited another Puja.
We just happened to walk in when there was served
another meal. So we had to eat again and it was
delicious. It is a surprising situation, when all
of the sudden you sit in a hall, in frond of
beautiful statues of gods, eating with the fingers
of a banana leaf delicious foods.
After a nice walk up the hill to places
we had not seen before,
we went back to the guesthouse.
It was just sunset and we couldn't turn our eyes
from the Kanjinzonga (?).
The snow white peaks reflected the sunset colours.
It was an amazing spectacle.
Then we had dinner.Usually, we were told,
Durga Puja was a time of fasting. For me it was
the opposite.
After dinner we went to Makaibari, because
there they had a cultural program.
The whole village gathered in front of the stage.
Children sat on the ground,behind them on benches
were the ladies and more children, the men were
in the very back.
Everyone was laughing, chatting, snuggling up
to each other.Uli and I, as guests of honour,
got the chairs.On stage the preparations had not
been finished, there was coming and going of
young men fixing the microphone, the music and
the decoration.
When we thought everything was finally finished
for a beginning, they started again whispering
and organising. We didn't expect that it was
due to us, but then two men dared to come down
and ask us to come on stage. That was quite
a surprise, but then we stood there on the
stage in front of all thosepeople.
Next to us were three little girls,
beautifully dressed up in the traditional
Nepali dress. They were to give us the 'khoda'(?),
the small, light yellow silk scarf, to pay us
honour.
When the littlest girl put it around my neck,
I had to bent all the way down to the floor,
because I'm so tall.
The whole village had a good laugh.
I am even taller than most of the men there.
I was told that when they talked about me in Nepali
they called me “the long one”.
Then we had to light an oil lamp, it was some kind
of opening ceremony. I even found some words
to say to everyone, which weren't too stupid.
But I don't think too many understood, because of
the language and the microphone quality.
The following program was really amazing.
Mainly there were solo dances of different styles,
modern/western as well as Indian/traditional.
Girls and boys of every age danced and I was
stunned because they were so good. I had never
seen anything like that, so many young people
dancing with joy and passion. Then there was
also some singing, I wish they had had a better
microphone.
