A Day in the Shop & Substitute Guru



Me and the Substitute Guru



A typical day at the jewelry shop I'm working in starts at 11am. I take a tuk tuk to the shop. The "boys" open the shop and give Ganesh, the elephant god his marigold and rose garlands, and say prayers. Then we have chai. We do a little work. Then the holy man comes in offering more prayers for Ganesh. For 10 rupees (about 22 cents) he smears red powder on my forehead and then presses a few grains of rice into the paste on my head. It is not very flattering. It looks like I'm walking around all day with a bleeding gash on my head with maggots in it. The rice falls off at the most inopportune moments throughout the day.

 Sometimes a guru comes in after the holy man. He pulls up a chair and talks to Ganesh. One day he turned to me and said I have a brilliant mind and would buy a house in India. After all the mandatory prayers we work a little and have more tea then lunch. Lunch is wrapped in newspaper and tied with string. It's pretty much the same every day—dahl with a lot of oil, vegetables in a lot of gravy and oil, and buttered naan. We eat, go back to work then have tea. The day ends about 8pm. 

Today there was a substitute guru in the shop. He had a long white/gray beard, long slicked back white/gray hair, thick spectacles, and a forehead full of saffron colored powder and a big round red tilak (prayer mark) on his third eye--the spot just between his eyes, the seat of intuition. He was 76 years old, the same age as my father. I just bought some special raisins and almonds for my upcoming trip on the Ganges River. I offered some to him and we talked. He told me after December I would be successful and that I would buy a house in India, just as the regular guru did.  

Oddly enough, I have heard this from several soothsayers, holy men and gurus here and in the United States. Either they're all reading out of the same astrology book or they know something I don't. He told me to pray to Ganesh every day before I write and pray to Durga every morning. I like the energy of this god and goddess and what they represent. Ganesh is the Remover of Obstacles and Durga is a strong and brave female warrior who kicks ass. I thanked him, put the raisins and almonds in a baggie for him and he left.