Easter Parade

Our Easter did not include a stroll down Fifth Avenue in New York humming Irving Berlin tunes ala Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Our Bangalore Easter was another adventure into the unexpected. We understand Easter completely. For Hindu and Muslin festivals the nuisances of the rituals frequently escape us. Religious festivals in Bangalore, however, tend to borrow from one another. The adoration of Mother Mary at St. Mary’s Basilica looks amazingly similar to the adoration of icons at Hindu temples. So when we were invited to a dance recital over the Easter weekend at a private residence, we were intrigued how the familiar and unfamiliar merged together.

The dance group to perform, Prayaas, was from Sukrupa Community Center. The invitation to the recital was extended by the community center director and good friend, Krupa. Sony is the lead dancer and one of the Sukrupa residential children.

The venue for this Easter gathering was at the home of Steve and Tricia. Steve and Tricia were strangers, so we socialized with them and their two young children to get acquainted. As we chatted, a few other friends of our hosts joined the conversation. We learned that our hosts and friends were in India to help mostly illiterate people learn how to communicate through storytelling. "We believe that it is through our storytelling we that share so much about ourselves and learn so much of others," we were told. How does one make a living on such work? Our host’s home was spacious and in a nice part of town.

As more stories were recounted, we learned that our hosts had spent five years in Africa. Other guests had similar backgrounds. We were among missionaries. It seemed like a perfect crowd for Easter.

The dance recital had been specially prepared for this Easter event. Accompanying the dance was recorded toe-tapping folk music; the lyrics sang praise and hosanna to the risen Jesus. All was conducted in the local Kannada language, but the printed program provided clear explanation in English.

Next, our hosts and their friends became storytellers. They recounted before the assembly of 25 people the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, starting oddly from Genesis. We are religious people who take scripture seriously without taking it literally. Our hosts were in the later school of scripture reading. As one of our Unitarian Universalist ministers spoke in a sermon, “In the face of religious diversity, our criterion for making choices must shift from where an idea comes from, to where an idea leads us. It's not about roots; it's about fruits.” We are sure there are some stories to tell about this path. Amen, Shalom…may it be so.