08.08.2002 | 2:46 p.m.
My friends don't know me. Episode 2: "I'm a Hindu heathen."

The best conversations are those that are most restless, running from side to side until they cover a large surface area. Except if the running is induced by hot pokers threatening to singe one's carefully constructed persona. At times like those,words tread gingerly to form sentences that try their best to placate those damn pokers. I was getting tired of discussing film and inadvertently adopting a "holier-than-thou" attitude. So I steered the course of the conversation adeptly to nostalgia. Lunch breaks playing saakli, bunking class for fictitious singing practices, smuggling text books to other classes - all to be discussed with Mary Hopkins style schmaltziness.

"Hey,remember the time we tried to summon spirits in class? I think it was Science...and Mrs.Inamdar didn't show up...7th std..." After flipping through the anachronistic 'memorable days at school' files scattered in my memory, that's the one I chose. Rather arbitarily, I must clarify.

"Yes! And for some reason, Deesha was selected to conduct the whole thing.."

"It's because she knew all of the Gayatri Mantra and no one else did. In case the spirit got stubborn and refused to go away...haha..."

Our 7th std. classroom was huge. It accomodated 60 of us and that particular afternoon, all 57 of us present made a Ouija board and held hands to paint the seance with authenticity, and thereby obscure our fear. The only weapon we had was the Gayatri Mantra . The Gayatri Mantra is the foremost chant of Hinduism, considered to be the most potent form of worship. It is said that once a person says it over and over, it becomes so much a part of the psyche that the person chants without realising. With utmost concentration,the mantra cleanses the soul and opens up the third eye, the ultimate sign of intellectual enlightenment. Over the years, it has been bastardised and miscontrued as a ritualistic tool. We were 13. We didn't know what it actually symbolised. All we knew was that religion was said to ward off evil.

"Really? Hmm maybe. Although I know the Gayatri Mantra too. It's Om.."

" Om Sahanavavtu Sahano Bhunaktu.... That one? How come you know it anyway?" I was impressed. I had always wanted to learn it. Especially after I was old enough to realise its similarities to Salinger's 'Pilgrim Prayer'. I only knew one Sanskrit mantra that we were made to learn in school by Mrs. Kashikar, our overly zealous Marathi teacher.

"No,dumbass. That's um...it's just some other shlok. My mom taught it to me when I was little. Doesn't everybody's?"

"Well not mine anyway..."

"What do you say when you pray then?"

"Um,nothing..."

"Oh just a generic "thank you God for the birds that sing" type thing?"

"Nope...nothing.."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

deja vu? | jamais vu?