This week, my daughter stepped into one of the most profound cultural milestones of her life, her Gufa ceremony. It is a symbolic traditional transition from childhood to adolescence, and it is often described as “marriage to the Sun.” This tradition has evolved. It required twelve days of seclusion in a dark room; now, we have shortened it to two or three days. The rules have been relaxed. Yet, the essence remains intact; the condensed version is equally celebrated and vivid. We chose two days for Gufa. We dropped her off on Sunday at the Guru Ba, the custodians of the ceremony. For me, the day began with exhaustion. It was the next morning after my milestone run (54 km). I was asked to skip, but I went ahead, assuming I would complete it before dark. I didn’t. I reached home after midnight, took a shower, and managed barely three hours of sleep. In the morning, I was limping at the ceremony site. But, watching my daughter become part of a ceremony, I forgot half of my pain. The rema...
Monologue .......