"Om Devi Kushmandayai Namah,
Surasampurna Kalasham Rudhiraplutameva Cha,
Dadhana Hastapadmabhyam Kushmanda Shubhadastu Me.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Maa Kushmanda Rupena Samsthita,
Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namah."
The mantra was something they all knew from the heart since many chanted it with no difficulty down the street.
The Kushmanda Day was quite interesting, because funny enough, my passport shared the same colour as Kushmanda.
Deepika understood what today meant, so she took me and Manish to a shrine where Kushmanda was being celebrated.
Some of our clothes were as royal blue as the day, and everybody else joining in the celebrations had their ways of showing royal blue; a vibrant colour which had some meaning in my life, growing up in Kenya.
Everything on that day represented richness and tranquillity; the ultimate richness of being in a calm and tranquil state, reason guiding emotional reactions and desires to wise decisions whose prices were affordable enough, as shown by our smiles.
When she was alive, my late mother loved royal blue so much to the point places like the main gate were painted royal blue.
However, as we arrived at the shrine, I couldn't help noticing something strange.
A surprisingly huge number of women were wearing royal blue bracelets on their left hands.
"Is it common for women to wear royal blue bracelets?" I asked Manish, who also couldn't help but wonder why they were wearing royal blue bracelets.
"I'm surprised, too," he replied. "This wasn't something I saw last year."
The women who wore royal blue bracelets had a strangely sombre mood, and despite a great effort to camouflage it, you could tell they were feeling sad about something.
Something, I felt, which may have been taken away from their lives abruptly, which was why they wore blue bracelets.
"They are blue evil eye bracelets," said Manish, with a sudden sense of realization.
Their bracelets were made of glass, and some bracelets were dark blue, while others were lighter in colour.
From what I noticed as I walked with Manish, the more sombre women had dark blue bracelets. Manish's realization felt like there was a sense of admiration for how these women, no matter how sombre, showed a smile to all they met, and in retrospect, I had no idea how mystic people in India truly were.
"I know one thing for sure, Manish," I said. "Wearing jewellery on the left side of your hand serves as an important reminder of a goal in life you want to accomplish."
"Thank you for saying that, Adrian," said Deepika.
"I didn't expect you'd figure that out," Deepika continued as she looked at us. "As women of Chaitra Navratri, we are devoted to our tradition, and worshipping Goddess Durga. There was darkness before Maa Kushmanda smiled, and the light of her smile was what created the universe, which now has 'a little warmth'."
Manish couldn't help but smile at how Deepika had explained the three meanings of Kushmanda, with "Ku" translating to a little, "Ushma" to warmth, and "Anda" to cosmic egg."
"What you should know about Maa Kushmanda," said Manish, "is that Maa Kushmanda is credited with creating the universe by giving rise to Hiranyagarbha, the cosmic egg, from which the entire cosmos emerged."
Traditionally depicted with eight arms holding various weapons and symbols of power, Maa Kushmanda emanated a radiant, solar-like aura, which represented her aptitude to spread positivity and illumination.
"Devotees sought her blessings for joy, well-being, and abundance in life," continued Deepika, as the moon continued rising.
"Are you a devotee, Deepika?" asked Adrian.
"I don't see why I shouldn't try being one," replied Deepika.
Many women had arrived, and some were offering bangles to the idol of Maa Kushmanda. Some offered perfume, earrings, nose pins, toe rings, necklaces, red chunri, mahavar and hairpins, while others offered sindoor, mehendi, kajal, bindi, and anklets.
"It is the gesture of genuflection, seeking strength to observe Navratri with the utmost fervour," said Deepika, as we watched more women in the shrine conducting prayers, blue bracelets on the left hand a clear symbol of something every woman wanted.
Deepika was among the women who took her kheer and puda to one priest standing close by, who smiled and showed his gratitude as echoes of devotees chanting their mantras continued.
"The women strive for balance within their souls, to experience a sense of inner peace and fulfilment," said Manish. "Any woman participating in the Kushmanda celebrations has lost something meaningful in their lives."
"Like children?" I asked.
"That's one major loss," replied Manish as Deepika returned.
I couldn't help but reflect on how many women in the shrine, Deepika included, had pursued the determination within themselves to stay strong and courageous despite having lost significant things in their lives, like children who either died or went missing, or loved ones who succumbed to caste discrimination, among many more of happenings which defined the ugly side of India.
In Deepika's case, it was the loss of the connection to her family, and she knew she wasn't going to expect her father Rahul or her step-brother Zahir to change their own beliefs, considering who I truly was. Deepika was among women in India who began to understand their unconventionality and freedom, regardless of what their background was, or what colour their skin glowed.
As we watched Deepika participate in the Kushmanda Day celebrations, we knew she was about to make a decision which would change the sceptics of an entire nation.
A decision I would be crucified for on social media, and murdered for behind closed doors, if I made it in Kenya.
***
Deepika had decided to sue her father, Rahul, and her step-brother Zahir, for the murder of two important people in her life.
Her late mother, whose sudden disapperance has never been explained till this day, and her dark-skinned boyfriend, Ajay Vivek, who Deepika referred to as AJ before he died.
As the Kushmanda Day celebrations came to an end, I could see the determined look on her face, since according to how Deepika told me, her mother was the only family member who had no problem with her relationship with AJ.
On the day they were attacked, AJ and Deepika were walking down a congested street in southern India, chatting about a few things; CCTV footage from a wholesale shop nearby became a key source of evidence in Deepika's case against her father and step-brother, because the footage showed in brutal detail how two men alighted from a motorcycle and began following both AJ and Deepika.
"They're probably just hawkers," said AJ, echoing what turned out to be the last words her boyfriend said to her before the surprise attack from behind.
Before they could do anything, they had been attacked and severely hurt; AJ had deep cuts on his neck, while Deepika had cuts on her arms and shoulders. Both of them had sustained blows to the head, and AJ had sustained a serious injury to the left side of his chest.
Despite people doing everything possible to get both of them to hospital, AJ succumbed to his injuries. He died in the ambulance while Deepika was unconscious.
Meanwhile, in the period she was unconscious… her mother was nowhere to be seen.
From the moment she woke up to a hospital bed, as a doctor and nurse informed her of what happened, a serious warning replayed in her mind; words too chilling to remember replayed in her mind as she walked away from the house two weeks ago.
"You will not desecrate our family lineage any further..."
Words from an angry father confirmed her fears.
The sudden disappearance of her mother was also a confirmation.
The people who attacked her were paid off by her father, who had refused to accept two facts; Deepika had refused to conform to the norms of her family, and in the process, they also rejected her relationship with AJ because AJ was a dark-skinned Indian; something even her step-brother Zahir argued with her about.
Zahir's clear narcissism, together with the poisonous beliefs he and her father shared, were more than enough to show Deepika how discriminatory her own family was. Her mother, on the other hand, was secretly supporting her, however she made sure her moves weren't known by anyone else in the family, for she, too, had a deep secret.
A secret which shocked me the moment Deepika let the cat out of the bag.