IND9 and Durga: Making Room for Different Traditions Before a Shared Contest

A neighbourhood quiz team gathers in a borrowed study room before its first inter-club event. One member suggests beginning with a prayer to Durga. Another follows a different family tradition, while a third would prefer a quiet moment without joining a prayer. Everyone wants the team to do well. IND9 brings us at Ishta Mel to the practical question inside this scene: how can we honour devotion while making shared participation comfortable for people whose practices differ?

Begin with the purpose of being together

The group has come to prepare for a quiz and take part as a team. That shared purpose gives us an important point of agreement. Each person should be able to study, contribute and participate fully without having to explain their private beliefs. Our arrangement can acknowledge individual devotion while keeping access to the team’s work straightforward.

We can say, “Some of us would like a few minutes for prayer before preparation begins. Let us agree on a starting time that works for everyone.” This puts the practical issue into words. It also separates arriving for the common activity from choosing a personal observance. The distinction becomes clear through the timetable and our conduct, rather than through assumptions about what everyone ought to find meaningful.

At Ishta Mel, we approach Durga with reverence and ask for the courage to act fairly. In this situation, courage includes allowing another person’s choice to remain their own. Our confidence in our devotion need not depend on everyone around us expressing it in the same way.

Ask about arrangements without demanding explanations

A respectful conversation asks what people need to use the room comfortably. It does not require a tour of their beliefs. Someone may prefer to arrive when preparation begins; another may wish to sit quietly nearby. A person can state a preference without being asked to defend their family’s practice or speak for an entire community.

The organiser can offer a clear, ordinary choice: anyone who wishes may pray before the agreed start, and the team session begins together afterwards. The invitation should leave enough room for a simple refusal. If a person says, “I will join you at six,” we can accept that answer warmly and move on.

Tone matters as much as the words. Repeatedly asking someone to reconsider, joking about their reluctance or looking disappointed can turn an apparently optional invitation into pressure. We can notice these small signals in ourselves. An invitation remains generous when the relationship is still easy after someone chooses differently.

Let respect shape the physical space

The borrowed room belongs to a shared arrangement. Before placing objects, lighting anything or playing sound, we should check the room’s rules and the people using it. A personal devotional image kept with our own belongings creates a different practical situation from covering the common desk with materials others need to move. Attention to these details prevents avoidable friction.

If a brief prayer is agreed, we can choose a place and volume that allow others to wait comfortably or continue their own quiet activity. Nobody should have to cross an awkward barrier merely to reach a chair or collect a notebook. A considerate layout communicates welcome more clearly than a speech about harmony.

We can also agree that personal objects are handled by their owners unless permission is given. A teammate may not know what a particular item means to us. Explaining a practical request calmly helps them act with care: “Please leave this here; I will pack it away before we begin.” Clear requests are easier to honour than unspoken expectations.

Keep team roles independent of observance

Once preparation starts, everyone returns to the common task on equal terms. The person who chose not to join the prayer should have the same opportunity to answer questions, suggest a strategy or represent the team. Participation in an observance must not become an informal test of loyalty. Otherwise, the earlier freedom would exist only in words.

In our IND9 reflection, fairness is visible in these ordinary decisions. We choose the spokesperson for a relevant reason, such as clear communication or familiarity with the event’s agreed requirements. We distribute practice time according to learning needs. We do not allow a difference in ritual participation to quietly alter whose ideas we hear.

This also protects the devotional moment itself from becoming a tool for group approval. We can offer our prayer sincerely and then attend to the shared responsibilities before us. Seeking Durga’s blessings for strength and fairness asks us to practise both when deciding how another person is treated.

Repair discomfort with a specific change

Suppose someone later says the invitation felt difficult to decline. We can listen for the part of our conduct that created that pressure. Perhaps we asked in front of everyone and then waited for an explanation. A useful response recognises the effect and changes the arrangement: next time, provide the timings in advance and make the separate choices clear.

We do not need to resolve every difference in belief to improve this one gathering. The practical question may be small: when to arrive, where to sit or whether sound carries into the working area. Addressing it directly is often more helpful than asking the uncomfortable person to agree that our intentions were good.

There may still be preferences that cannot all be met in one room. We can discuss another time or location for the personal practice, while preserving a workable common session. Flexibility about an arrangement can serve our values rather than weaken them. It shows that we take both devotion and companionship seriously.

Carry the agreement into the next meeting

Before leaving, record the simple arrangement with the other team details, so newcomers can understand it without guessing. The shared start time, room expectations and freedom to choose should remain consistent. We can revisit the arrangement if the group or location changes, rather than assuming an old agreement automatically covers new people.

For us, IND9 opens a thoughtful way to consider strength in a mixed group. With Durga in our hearts, we can stand firmly in our own devotion and remain considerate towards another person’s tradition. The team’s readiness becomes visible when everyone can open a notebook, offer an answer and belong to the work ahead without first having to become alike.