Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Family Gathers for the Tikka Blessing

We are at Bhim's mountaintop home on one of the most important days of  Dashain. It's the day when the family gives and receives the tikka blessing from each other. Everyone pays a visit to the family patriarch. Bhim's father, Mukti, is the oldest male of the family and so the extended family arrived at various times all during the day to receive his blessing. Some of Bhim's relatives live relatively close by — some of them were here yesterday to greet me when I arrived and they were returning today. Bhim told me that others walk for miles and miles up thousands of feet to visit and I assume that some of today's visitors had done just that, since some of them arrived late in the evening, well after dark.

          This morning I sat in Apshara's kitchen for a while and watched her work. One of her many tasks today was to prepare the rice for the tikka blessing. She mixed it with some type of red dye and then placed it in small, hand-made bowls made of leaves. Then she placed some of the mixture above the doorway in order to bless the house.





Everyone wanted a tikka blessing from Mukti, the family patriarch, but before he gave blessings, Bhim's 16-year old daughter, Bhwani, blessed him first.



Once Mukti had bestowed his blessings, every one else shared the experiences of blessing and being blessed. Each person had a bowl of the rice mixture and some money. The person receiving the blessing gave a bit of money to the person bestowing the blessing and then each person would put their hands together and bow to each other before moving on for the next blessing.







Unfortunately my cold was really taking over and I felt terrible. Apshara made a bed for me on one of the side porches of the house. She placed a woven mat down and then gave me a big comforter which I wrapped myself in. I got up on occasion to shoot some photos but would then return to my bed. I asked Bhim if I shouldn't go to my "room" (the loft above the animals). "No," he said. "This is where we put people who are sick so we can take care of them." I slept on and off all during the day to the sounds of talk and laughter.

          One of Bhim's cousins is a nurse. She gave me some pills to help alleviate the nasal congestion and when I complained of a headache she went to her home to collect her gear so as to take my blood pressure and she also gave me something to take for the headache. When she learned that I had brought a Z-pac with me she recommended that I start taking them. "We are worried about your health," she said. (She is in the photo here, with her husband.)

So there I was, sick as anything, wrapped up and sleeping on a straw mat on a side porch of a Nepali house at the top of a mountain far, far from home. It was quite surreal. It was as if I was able to stand outside of myself and to watch my own reactions. I was surprised at how at peace I was in the situation and was just happy to be where I was.

          Apshara had given me a large thermos full of hot water and lemon and I drank that throughout the day. (Before we arrived, Bhim had asked if I wanted bottled water at his home or if boiled water would be alright. "Boiled water will be just fine" I said.)

          For the entire time I was there I ate the traditional dal bhat. There is nothing wrong with this food. It's quite nutritious; however, the Nepalis cook with no spices and the food is very, very bland. After a few meals of it, it became rather difficult to get down. During one meal on that porch, I resorted to imagining the taste of a Harris sausage pizza and tried to keep that taste alive while swallowing the dal bhat. The next morning they brought me muesli with warm buffalo milk for breakfast. After so many meals of lentils and rice, it was heaven!