Today is Easter, the end of the 40-day observance of Lent. It’s a culmination of the holiest period for Christians. Easter marks the resurrection of Christ after his crucifixion on Good Friday
Today, with the globalization of ideas, and the spread of cultural practices, India is inundated with practices such as the painting of Easter eggs, decorating of bunny shaped cookies, and so forth. Since I’m on vacation, I got to see the innovative chocolate eggs “egging” us on at the breakfast buffet.
I was reminded of Easter in India, 40 years ago, the first time I visited India. I had just turned 5 in Kolkata, where my grandparents lived. My father’s brother had gotten married a couple months ago, and his new bride was living in Kolkata with the in-laws, after my uncle went back to the US.
Being the bratty American kids we were, we kids (my older brother, Siva, and I) demanded an Easter Egg hunt. My grandparents were baffled. Their minds must have been racing. After all, they were brahmins. And (Iyer) brahmins don’t eat eggs! (While my lineage is brahmin, I do not see myself with any caste distinction. I am merely me.)
Nevertheless, they acquiesced, because we were the only grandkids. But they still didn’t know what we were asking. So, what better way to induct their new daughter-in-law to the family, than to sic her with the job: create an Easter egg hunt for her nephew and niece.
Forty years ago, in the 1980s, before internet and mobile phones with social media posts bringing ideas from America; and even before across-the-ocean phone calls were affordable; and perhaps even before news crossed borders instantaneously, Easter in India was part of the Holy Week (from Palm Sunday onwards). It was an auspicious day for Christians, with few others even aware of the occasion.
We had just finished celebrating Holi in Kolkata for the first time a few weeks prior, when our grandparents presented with pichakari toys that we filled with all things liquid from the bathroom, and sprayed all over the house, the neighbors, and the cows traversing the street. So we were well aware that our grandparents could make fun things happen (though technically, it was their daughter-in-law spearheading the movement).
My young aunt was eager to please, and excited to have a project that didn’t involve the usual “daughter-in-law duties” such as cooking. So she took to it quite quickly, utilizing our Ambassador car and driver to make the rounds in the city to find the alien Easter eggs we demanded.
Forty years ago, with us in tow, my aunt approached all the big name hotels, which were rather few in number in the early 1980s: The Park, The Oberoi Grand, The Great Eastern. People looked at her quizzically as we tried to explain to chefs who were amused with our request.
Finally, at Flurry’s, a Kolkata staple, we were able to convince the bakers that all they had to do is make egg-shaped chocolates and cookies, and then my aunt would hide them in boxes around our garden. We were elated with the prospect of an Easter egg hunt in our home!
This is my story of how I’ve contributed to the growth and development of Easter, and of Indian inter-religious understanding, a field that I continue to foster through my research and work in my many avatars and engagements across the country.