A SHORT STORY ON HOW SOME INDIAN RITUALS SHOULD PROGRESS WITH TIMES

There is a ritual that my mom does every night, without fail. After everyone ate dinner, she'd leave some leftover rice in the rice cooker bowl and pour some water in it. The next morning, she would throw the soaked rice away before cooking a new batch of rice for lunch.

I observed this peculiar act and asked my mom why does she does what she does and she explained that by leaving some rice left uneaten overnight, Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity would not leave our home. I argued with my mom, over this preposterous belief and my mom said that she is simply following what her mom did (my grandma) and her mother followed what her mother did (my great grandma.) Monkey see, monkey do. 

It got me thinking and I did some research. Both my grandparents were rubber tappers and in the wee hours of the morning, before setting out to tap trees, they would have the soaked leftover rice as breakfast, either on its own or with condiments which would make the McD, Burger King, Subway going youth of today cringe. Those are raw onion, green chilies or fried salted fish. People at that time did hard labor so they need the surge of carbs each morning, hence this practice. 

So I got the idea that the soaked rice is not meant to be thrown away. But no one at this current era would have soaked rice for breakfast. We are all modern people, right - the closest we get to soaked rice is McDonald's porridge.

There was another purpose in leaving some rice at night before retiring to bed. In the olden days, beggars, known in Tamil as annam kavadis go to house to house at meal times to beg for food and in the mornings, such beggars would be given the leftover soaked rice as breakfast - it was a normal thing in those days. Not many of us know this; I didn't know as well.

So, fine, since we no longer eat soaked rice for breakfast and the begging culture has expired, I wonder why the practice is still around.

It's perfectly alright to follow customs and culture but they should progress to suit changing times and developments.

By all means, practice rituals but don't waste in the name of rigid ritual.

My mom still soaks leftover rice every night without fail, but instead of throwing it away, she feeds the soaked rice to birds and they come by the dozens; they'd wait at the gate for my mom to come with soaked rice each morning. The sight is priceless. I'm sure goddess Lakshmi will approve this and stay put in our home.

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• Wastage in the name of God

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