![]() ![]() I started to become interested in the Hindu deities - both as a part of my cultural heritage, but also from an artistic standpoint. All I really wanted to do was watch cartoons.įast forward about twenty-five years. As a kid, I accepted these practices and references, but didn't understand them, and was often frustrated by them. Or why my dad made me count mala beads while chanting Rama, Rama, Rama. Just like I had no idea why we had a framed illustration of a giant monkey carrying a mountain. For instance, every time I sneezed, my mom or dad would say, "Sita Rama." I had no idea what the phrase meant. The world of the Ramayana was ingrained in me in the same way, through the cultural nuances of living with Hindu parents. This made for an interesting childhood, to say the least, made even more bizarre by my father's daily devotional practice, which involved a morning puja during which he bathed a collection of murtis (idols of the Hindu gods) and stuck marigold petals to their foreheads with a dot of red paste. They immigrated to the US, via the UK, in 1980 and have spent the last thirty years living in and running a motel off Route 66. My parents are from an area of India called Gujurat. Growing up in San Bernardino, I was immersed in the rituals and mythology of Hinduism. But for me, the Ramayana is part of my cultural identity, though until recently I wouldn't have been able to explain what it meant if someone asked. I'm certain that for most people, "Ramayana" (RHAH-mah-YAH-nah) is just an unpronounceable word. ![]()
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