Contrary to last year, there were no major dramas this
Mahalaya.
The Man-Who-Doesn’t-Get-Mahalaya actually made an effort
this year and was surprisingly nice.
Not only did he not
put up any fight when I told him I wanted to listen to the CD at 5am today
morning, he actually downloaded Mahisasura
Mardini (lost my CD again) for me last night!
Believe it or not, I also convinced him to place the laptop on his side of the
bed (saying that my bedside table was too cluttered already), which meant that
he would have to hit the Play button
at 5am. He agreed to that too (I am quite suspicious of the angelic behaviour).
Maybe I’m being evil. Maybe he was just too happy that I
bought him a body pillow as a Mahalaya
gift (and bought one for myself too). These are as tall as me and are just the
right balance of firm and soft (not so soft that you feel like you’re hugging a
squishy lizard…nor hard enough to remind you of a tree trunk). I would highly recommend
it to anyone with back problems or partners who hate to be hugged when
sleeping. I think body pillows make perfect Mahalaya gifts too. If you have a
comfortable night’s sleep, you are more likely to be less reluctant to wake up
in the morning. No?
Anyway, we went to bed last night hugging our new body
pillows. And when the alarm went off, I nudged him lightly to see if a kick was to follow (like last year). Nothing. He actually turned to the other side and turned the computer on.
Suddenly, a horrible scary
thought gripped my lungs. What if he had downloaded something else by accident?
You know the weird things people post on the web these days with deceptive
names! Damn, I should have checked. What if it wasn’t Mahisasura Mardini at all but yet another
version of Gangnam Style? Can you imagine how scarred I would be for life if
that was the case?
My misery did not last for long. The familiar voice sounded
loud and clear and filled our room with the “pujo-pujo-gondho”. Except that he had put it in a loop and the chandipath started again,
just when it had ended.
Would the goddess be angry for being invoked again, right
after she has taken all that trouble to kill the evil forces? Does anyone know?
