Un pulao de religiones

Ya os conté lo que es un pulao, es un plato mezcla de arroz, lentejas y verduras. En hindi significa también mezclar cosas sin aparente sentido. En la foto, Jesucristo junto a Ganesha y Lakhsmi, un compendio de religiones bien avenidas :-)

La Navidad se celebra poco, alguna comida y regalito, pero no hay ambiente como en el sur de India, de hecho mucha gente viene a Benarés para olvidar la Navidad...
A mí sin embargo estas fechas me gustan mucho porqué me trasladan al pasado... Por eso insisto en celebrarlas aunque sea un poquito, porqué la celebración fuerte es el Diwali, en Octubre cada año.




En Madre Teresa en Benarés necesitan no sólo ahora sinó todo el año antibióticos y analgésicos, no les enviéis paquetes a ellos, no les llegarían, pero si venís por aquí sera buen karma entregárselos personalmente.
Suelo hacer donaciones todo el año, aunque la monja decía que no querían propaganda, yo se la hago, porque vi a 100 enfermos, muchos desahuciados, terminales o graves, lepra, pulmonías, cáncer, los vi sin recursos y me dio un nudo en la garganta. Antes tenian leprosería pero la movieron a Lucknow. También viven personas con retardo mental abandonadas por sus familias, muchas mujeres especialmente.
Hacen lo que pueden, pero es mejor ayudarles. Donadles medicinas o dinero, porfavor.


En este link encontraréis un artículo sobre la diversidad de India y cómo eso influenció al autor.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/23guest.htm

Éste es uno de mis libros favoritos, de Yann Marte, La vida de pi, premio Booker 2002.
Puse un comentario en inglés en un foro, aquí estan algunos fragmentos que me gustaron, me identifico con él por su afan unificador y conciliador entre diversas fes, así como su sentido del humor tierno.

It's very original and imaginative, the author has a playful mind that he is not afraid to use. Has a fine and tender sense of humour, very compassionate. This story of magic realism Booker prize in 2002 invents its own language.
It' s a wonderful tale of what it means to be human , about adventure, survival and faith.
I enjoyed the comparative study of religions, its criticism, its irreverence and also the zoology data. I feel related to it because I too live between 2 religions, Hinduism and Christianity, my previous faith. And I made a kind of kichiri too...

Some excerpts of 'Life of Pi':
'I miss the heat of India, the food, the house lizards on the walls, the musicals on the silver screen, the cows wandering the streets, the crows cawing, even the talk of cricket matches..."

'-Mamaji has 2 passports, indian and french. Why can' t I be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim?
She (Mother) thought for a second. That' s the point, one nation, one passport..
-If there is only one nation in the sky, shouldn' t all passports be valid for it?'

'I would like to be baptized and I would like a prayer rug'
'All religions are true, Bapu said. I just want to love God'
'...He seems to be attracting religions the way a dog attracts fleas...'
Before moving to Pondycherry, Father ran a large hotel in Madras. An abiding interest in animal led him to the zoo business. A natural transition, you may think, from hotelkeeping to zookeeping. Not so, in many ways, running a zoo is a hotelkeeper's worst nightmare. Consider: the guests never leave their rooms, they expect not only lodging but full board, they receive a constant flow of visitors, some of whom are noisy and unruly. One has to wait til they saunter to their balconies, so to speak, before one can clean their rooms, and then one has to wait until they tire of the view and return to their rooms before one can clean their balconies; and there is much cleaning to do, for the guests are as unhygienic as alcoholics. Each guest is very particular about his or her diet, constantly complains about the slowness of the service, and never, ever tips. ... '
About atheists and agnostics:
'I' ll be honest about it. It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. ,... But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.'
Chapter 22
'I can well imagine an atheist' s last words: 'White, love, my God'- and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, "Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain" and to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.
After becoming a castaway in the lifeboat:
'I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances -solitary Masses without priests or consecrated Communion hosts, darshans without murtis, and pujar with turtle meat for prasad, acts of devotion to Allah not knowing where Meca was and getting my Arabic wrong. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love- but sometimes it was so hard to love.'
'

'I know what you want, you want a story that won' t surprise you, that will confirm what you already know, that won' t make you see highter of further or differently. You want a flat story, an immobile story, you want dry, yeastless factuality...'
'if we, citizens don' t support our artist, we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.'

...