For Tejasvi Desai, being a Hindu student is as much about personal and cultural meaning as it is about following rules.
“I think I’m more culturally inclined when it comes to religion. I have my beliefs in Hinduism and I follow most of the rituals, but it’s more of a family thing to do.”
Desai says many Hindus don’t really have daily observances, or “pujas,” that they follow anymore.
“All that really doesn’t happen any more, it’s just there are these festivals, or there are these special occasions,” Desai says.
“On those days that you actually dress up and have that special kind of food and go out with your family and pray. It’s not something you do on a regular basis. It’s not like Sunday church.”
The calendar Hindus observe is different from the Gregorian calendar. Desai says in the present day, Hindus follow it for the sake of marking in and celebrating festivals and holy days.
“Just around the corner is Navaratri, a festival where everyone goes and plays dandia and I’m going to do that. I’m going to Montreal with friends and the entire Hindu community is coming together and playing dandia [a traditional folk dance]. So it’s only for festivals that you use that calendar, otherwise it’s . . . as everyone else follows,” Desai says.
Desai says after coming to Canada, the most she could do was spend time with her relatives here. To her, it doesn’t seem to make sense to visit a Hindu temple here; it’s the thought that counts. The only thing that seems strange to her is not being able to celebrate festivals with her family.
“Back home in India it’s all about community living . . . the entire family coming together and relatives, cousins. It’s like a huge gathering and lots of food basically, and there’s worshipping and dressing up and there are all the rituals you normally do and it comes to all these special occasions.”
As a student in Canada, Desai says her religious beliefs affect her daily life.
“For example, I’m a vegetarian because of what my religion says about harming animals or other living beings. So it gets a little difficult because here everyone is mostly non-vegetarian . . . there are times when people get tempted to switch. There are these moments when you’re just, ‘I’m hungry, I’m not getting food,’ you don’t know how to cook, what do you do?”
People have tried to get Desai to eat meat before. She says that she is used to the temptation, but that standing up for what she believes in is more important.
“There’s always someone who’s going to tell you, ‘Try it out, try it out.’ It’s all about standing up to that, and believing in your faith, believing in yourself, and it gets a little easier if your belief is in line with your religion’s belief.”
“I believe in non-violence, I believe in caring for animals; it’s easier for me to be a vegetarian for [personal] reasons than for them being religious [reasons].”
Reportage by Aishwarya Ravishankar
Produced by Fraser Tripp and Oliver Sachgau
Despite this, Desai says she does not believe in all Hindu conventions.
“Things like drinking, according to our religion, are not supposed to be done. But then I don’t feel it’s wrong personally, so I drink . . . it’s really far-fetched.”
In Jainism, the faith she follows, the belief is that since the core ingredients that make up are fermented, there’s bacteria that gets killed, which is why one shouldn’t be drinking.
“I think that’s going a little too far,” she says.
Though Jainism isn’t technically part of Hinduism, Desai says she identifies as both. One of the biggest things Desai says she misses about India is Hindu weddings.
“They’re just fabulous. The time the marriage takes place depends on the birth chart, which is run out by the astrologer . . . Hindu weddings are long, and they involve a lot of food, a lot of music, and a lot of dancing,” she says.
