I Smudged my Tika

So you know .... a bindi is the jewel women wear between their eyebrows. I'm pretty sure this is representing the third eye. Or rather, the Third Eye. I've worn a bindi during a couple of the wedding celebrations I went to here, along with pretty much every other woman there, and damn, if it doesn't dress a woman up in a wonderful way. I'm serious. I enjoyed how it looked. It felt lovely and I felt adorned in a new and beautiful way. Of course, the only problems are the moment in the course of the evening when you touch your face, as we so often do without even realizing it, and you brush it off. It's gone, and so is the special something along with it, if you let it. The other problem is that we don't wear these in the States. We really should. Much better than piercing one's lip or tongue or whatever. I have put a couple of very, very tiny bindis on my nose to look like I've pierced it, but eventually I touch my nose and that one comes off, too.

Tika is made out of rolli. This is what the men (in the teeny tiny shop where I am typing) tell me when I pester them about it. It looks like the brightest red flour you've ever seen. Water (or oil??) is added to it, and during some religious ceremonies or offerings, some priest type guy dots it on men and women's foreheads between the eyebrows .... again the Third Eye.

Am I being rude enough here with my ignorance, "some priest type guy" comment and so forth, or what???

So I went to a ceremony on the Ganga this evening, got the red dot on my forehead and take the cycle rickshaw to one of my favorite restaurants here, Big Ben Restaurant, to enjoy the Paneer Sagwala with a couple of Roti ---- I want to tell you about these in detail later on. all I can say now is "yummy." And after dinner, in my exhaustion, I put my hands to my face and rubbed them all over. I completely forgot about the Tika, and when I happened to glance down at my hand there was red powder all over it. This is far worse than chalk pastels in the smudging department. I was sitting next to a mirror, and when I looked over, I witnessed red all over not only my forehead---- I repeat ALL OVER MY FOREHEAD, but also around my left eye, below my left eye, all over my left cheek and onto my nose. Helllllllllllooooo Bozo! I had to laugh out loud, and in fact, I am doing so now because it still remains ALL OVER MY FACE and I look ridiculous. As if I don't get enough looks with the blonde hair ..... or the mendi (when you could see that.) I just realized I have to take a picture. Maybe I should have the guy who runs the place do it.

He was watching The Spy Who Loved Me in Hindi, and Indian Idol, before another guy came in to use the second computer in here. I still love this place.

maybe no one will notice if I wear my hair over the whole left side of my face.