We Odias are a different lot. How modern we may become, we still value our customs and traditions. This is perhaps imbibed in us by our forefathers, and I say here, by our mothers. We are not just satisfied by our 33 million deities and Gods, we celebrate “Bara Masa, TeraParba”, meaning thirteen festivals in twelve months. Notwithstanding the onslaught of western culture, internet and modernity in our lives, a naïve odia always follows his heart (read, instructions by his mother!). The onset of “Kartika” month of Odia calendar heralds the season of daily pujas, rituals and ceremonies in one name of the other, which only a typical Odia can understand.
The full month of “Kartika” is perhaps a sin-erasing month. No matter how much non-veg food you intake/grab/devour in the entire calendar year, you will be purified of your sins once you abstain from non-veg foods in this month. Many pious folk get up early, go to ponds and rivers, take a bath, and eat once a day, food without onion and garlic, in special rituals called “Habisha”. I call them the most sinful of the lot, for they take the utmost penance in this month. No offences here. What’s more, the last five days of the month, called “Panchuka”, is made special when the devout non-vegetarian too leaves his favorite dishes, and becomes a strict vegetarian. It’s told, even a crane, who thrives only on fish, also forsakes its non-veg food during this period.
The real story begins when the month ends with “Kartika Purnima” and the day following it is observed as “Chhadakhai”. There is a maddening rush to the local fish market to buy whatever non-veg is on display, fish, chicken, lamb, mutton, sea food and even eggs. What’s more, people buy multiple varieties of non-veg items on a single day and devour it like they have never done before. Prices sky-rocket and shops witness stampedes, but who cares. It’s as if they have been waiting for this day all their lives. Multiple dishes are prepared, and relished and it’s no wonder that the next day, the medical centres are crowded with cases of indigestion and food-poisoning.
I see no logic in all these, because I eat whatever I like in a day, rituals be damned. My Mother warns me not to bring anything remotely connected to the animal kingdom during this month, but she has never ever protested to me having them outside the four walls of the house. But then, we Odis always defy logic, such is our specialty.