Burning the evil

The last night of the celebrations for the greater glory of the Mother Goddess was marked with the burning of the evil spirit. Again, each locality had some figures of the spirit to burn right at hand, yet we decided to go for a mass happening. The area nearby Nehru stadium was identified as the probable place for such happening by impressively informed Kate and we headed there with a couple of new trainees. The flyover nearby the stadium was flooded with people walking towards the area or just taking their place on the flyover to watch the burning from there. We merged with the crowd heading to the scene and raising the clouds of dust on sand-like ground. Before the actual burning the performance of Ramayana (ancient Sanskrit epic) was developing on the stage





and enjoyed the undivided attention of thousands of people gathered at the place.



The scale of the event was mind-boggling: the deafening sounds of the show, crowds captivated by the performance and anxiously anticipating its climax, three huge figures of the evil spirits to be burnt in the culmination of nine-day celebrations.



Once again, we enjoyed the working principle of “Atithi Devo Bhavah'' which is easy to appeal to when dealing with educated people: a polite “Excuse me, sir. How can we?” won us a shortened queue and the best seats nearby the stage and the evil spirits. The latter were burnt with noticeable pleasure.





However scary it was to watch a huge object getting quickly burnt in front of your eyes (or, I wish videos were possible to share), you get thrilled by the felt warmth of the fire, by the proximity of the burning figures and by the realization that the evil is conquered and destroyed.