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Italian tourist celebrates birthday with Vedic chants
Varanasi:
After years of blowing off candles on his birthday cakes, Pavlo Varono,
an Italian tourist to India wanted this year's celebrations to lighten
up his soul. The venue of Varono's 49th birthday bash on Tuesday was Varanasi
where thousands come each day to seek salvation. Wearing the traditional
Indian attire and a vermillion mark on his forehead, Varono organized
a Hindu ritual to fulfill a long cherished desire. "I am have a lot of
respect and gratitude for Indian culture, and for me, it is very important
that I am close to Indian culture.I think the European mind; the Western
mind in general is like a little drop of water and can receive a lot from
Indian culture," said Varono. A priest chanted the Vedic incantations
for Varono's long and peaceful life. Varono's friends said they were elated
about being so close to a spiritual experience. "It was a celebration
of Pavolo's birthday but it was also a celebration of a wider spirituality
and a connection to this place, to these people and to the spirits here.
It was more than a birthday in a Western sense," said Shalin, Pavolo's
friend. The rituals were rounded off with a Sanskrit language version
of a birthday song.
-Sept
14, 2006
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