Fun fact that most Stateside desi folks don’t know. Navratri happens more than twice a year, it’s quadrice: Chaitra, Sharad, Magha, and Ashada. But renting out a gymnasium and cooking that much prasad four times a year gets logistically messy. Despite being able to send invisible signals across the air and wires to magic rocks. It was somehow easier to coordinate quarterly multi-night celebrations when the economy was the gaam.

Anyways, we’re gonna focus on an interesting Chaitra in 2018.

My batch got hired partway through the year after undergrad wrapped up. So most of us ended up with rollover PTO into the following year.

We were making all the lemonade out of the lemons we were handed. Work paid well and didn’t expect too long hours. Rent was cheap. Drinks were even cheaper. So if the day ended in y, we were probably out and about. I miss $1 well drinks, dollar domestics, and $3 gobs. Miss three digit rent even more. But moving on.

So what to do with those extra days off that were expiring at the end of the quarter? A week in New Orleans of course.

Originally the trip didn’t overlap with the holiday.

But of course my folks booked a family trip to Arizona and Nevada, telling me I was coming.

So now Navratri started on the last day of the Southwest trip. One day back in Pittsburgh to fight a fire. And then right off to NOLA.

When I still practiced it. My Navratri routine was always pretty simple, beforehand I commit to a number of malas per mantra. Gayatri Mantra was always in the mix, accompanied by others and Beej Aksharas. And I don’t break fast till I finish it. The eating window is roughly 1 hour. And I cheat with liquids, most of the time water or an americano.

Luckily the city is famously known for its dishes that cater to the vegetarian diet.

And so began arguably my most interesting observation of the Nine Nights to date.

I modified my rule slightly, I wouldn’t start drinking till I finished my jap. Unfortunately we’d also be out on the town till 2am. It’s wild how I’ve yet to meet someone who hasn’t had an interesting night at Bourbon Heat.

Half the party then went to bed, and other half were up chitchatting by the grill for another hour and delaying the inevitable effects.

Two specific idiots were in the later group.

One would wake up early morning before the rest of the class to sit in Padmasana and move through the Tulsi beads. When done, stand up and face Surya to do Darshan, followed by Dandvat Pranam to the Father Of Yama.

The other was preparing for a marathon. Would wake up about the same time, and go out to train. Whoever finished first grabbed two cold ones from the fridge. One for themselves, and one for the other as they waited for the gang to get up and start the day’s bad decisions.

Arguably I still performed the Celebration Of Ma Durga’s Victory Over Mahishasura. The day started with Jap, Darshan, and Pranam. An Upavas was taken. Dancing through the hours of the night. How’s that for a technicality.

I’d be lying if I said it’s not fun to see uncles short-circuit when they hear the story.