Hindu rites for a sick mother

I never realised it has been almost a month since I fed my blog.  No wonder the Alexa Rankings slipped, the Global from around 230,000 to double that, and the India ranking from around 40,000 to almost 90,000.  But when your mother falls sick, and with a quite serious illness, a blog is the last thing on your mind.

When mother (or father) falls sick, there could be three situations where a son (or a daughter) is tasked with taking care.  She could be incommunicado in a hospital, either due to the medical condition itself, or due to restrictions enforced by the hospital rules.  She could be hospitalized but still with all her senses, chirping and griping away at all and sundry.

In either of the cases, there is nothing – whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or agnostic – can actually do; that is except for the agnostic others can at least pray.

There is a 3rd case, where the medical condition is of concern, but adequate medical care can be provided at home – either due to the nature of illness, or the medical prognosis due to various factors, including old age.  This is where the rites of Hindus while administering to a sick mother come in.

Because my mother was otherwise hale and hearty, quite cheerful, it fell on me to cater not only to her health and creature comforts; but also spiritual comforts.  The most painful I found was the get the hang of those kolams (கோலம்) – the rice flour patterns drawn on the entrance, and at the altar of the pooja shelf / room.

It was not enough that they were to be drawn every morning before sunrise.  The kolams should be elaborate ones, not simple, on the special festival days – of which we have multitude, but thankfully, none in February, and in any case on Tuesdays and Fridays.

So here is the elaborate kolam from my first attempt – the others were only marginally better – on one such Friday. 

Tags: kolam

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