Parul by Harsha V. Dehejia

Author:Harsha V. Dehejia [Dehejia,Harsha V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788174369598
Publisher: Roli Books

6. Bhadrapad

In the month of Bhadrapad

the earth trembles with the footsteps of Ganesha

as shilpis transform a lump of clay into

an elephant-headed bestower of boons

when marigolds and the gulmohar

paint the landscape with brush strokes of yellow and ochre

and the mind is touched by the loquacious words of the parrot.

The month of Bhadrapad is Ganapati’s month – the light is coloured with gerua shades of devotion, as marigolds in their many shades of yellow and orange whisper songs of Parvati’s motherhood and painters are busy preparing images of Ganesha, even as families create a space in their homes and lives to celebrate ten days of festivities as they bring Ganesha home. The sky in Bhadrapad has only a few stray rain clouds; there is the fragrance of kevada in the air and the leaves of the mango tree are a dark green and almost hide the parrots as they sit silently in the midday sun. Bhadrapad is a time when Parul would love to sit with Praful under the mango tree, imitate parrots and recount the many stories about these birds that she had heard in her childhood.

For Parul, it was a time of preparing the home, not for the arrival of Ganesha, but of Praful. Her desk, which was cluttered with tubes of paint, had to cleared, and the few paintings that she had made were to be displayed, for him to see. There was even one painting of Ganesha that she had made earlier in the month; she wanted to frame it and hang it in the living room, but she decided against it as she felt that framing was only for perfect pictures and her painting, like her life, was incomplete and far from perfect. The idea of perfection was very much on her mind on that morning of the purnima of Bhadrapad; why was perfection in her life and love eluding her? Was there no perfection in life? Was human love never perfect? How was perfection in love between a man and a woman to be measured? Or was love an illusion, like the maya that Praful would often talk about? She collected small images of Ganesha that she had saved over the years and arranged them in a little group on her dresser. Her dresser was her shrine, for it is here that she would sit for hours looking at the mirror in front of her – at times, she would hold a mirror behind her as she tied her long tresses. As she looked at it, she would long to see Praful in that mirror. Some of the most romantic moments for her were when she was sitting at the dresser and getting ready. It was not only a very relaxing moment but it was a moment of great anticipation and expectation of romance. And when Praful would sit on the bed, looking at her she would look at him through the mirror. To her, this was a very beautiful moment of love.

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