Puja

The mystical and ceremonial played a role in everyday Indian life and the workshop was no exception. We didn’t think it was surprising when our crews and co-workers organized a puja  to protect and give thanks for the equipment that was their means of livelihood. Our volunteers came down to Kolar from Bagepelli, Chickballapur, Chintamani, and Shrinavaspur with their rigs and crews. We all pitched in and gave the compressors, Jeeps, jackhammers, motorcycles and hand tools, a good cleaning.

The crews decorated them with kum-kum paste and garlands of jasmine, then lit incense and oil lamps and reverently performed the puja. We finished the day in good cross-cultural style with Kingfisher beer, chilled in our well because we didn’t have a refrigerator, and heaping plates of biryani from a cauldron that puttered over an open fire.