Pongaloo… Pongal!

Born and brought up in an agricultural family, “Sankranthi/Pongal” -The Harvest festival celebrated in many Indian states is always close to my heart.

The 3+ day festivities starts with Boghi. Boghi falls on the last day of the Tamil month ‘Marghazhi’. During this entire month it is believed that the the Ozone layer is closer to the earth and breathing early morning air during this time brings in health benefits. Across the South Indian states, colorful big Rangolis and early morning Bhajans(Prayers) are a tradition even now.

Rangoli competition is also held in some places.

Boghi is celebrated in many different ways in many different states. It is a day for the farmers to thank the rain God (Indra), a day to celebrate with a bonfire – to burn all the sadness and bring joy, a day to forget the past and start a new beginnings.

Deep cleaning of the home ( nowadays thanks to deep cleaning services a lot more easy) and whitewashing the walls (in villages) is a norm.

Pongal is celebrated on the the first day of Tamil Month “Thai”. Typically falls on 14th on 15th of Jan based on the transition of Sun’s planetary position to Zodiac sign Makara (Capricorn). This 6 month period from Jan 15th to July 15th is called ‘Uttarayanam’ and considered very auspicious as per Indian Almanac.

In the Indian Mythology – Mahabharat’ , warrior Bheeshma was in his death bed waiting for Uttarayanam so that he attains Nirvana.

While the traditional way is to celebrate outdoors offering payers to the Sun God and preparing Pongal in earthenware, my city life doesn’t have the luxury of celebrating outdoors.

Traditional preparation-pic courtesy -Internet

My family brass vessel passed on from my mom!

Sweet Pongal is prepared in the above vessel for Pooja. In addition to that Vada, Rice, payasam(kheer) are also prepared.

Don’t go by my culinary skills. Vada should look like the one in picture below.

Day after Pongal is Kanu Pongal/Mattu Pongal.

The farmers show their gratitude to the cows ,buffaloes and 🐂 for their support in agriculture. After worshipping the cows (Go Puja) they are fed with sweet Pongal, sugarcane and bananas(all fresh from the farm!).

During our childhood we had around 15-25 cows and bulls. Preparing Pongal on this day wasn’t an easy task for my mom. Cooked using wood fire in the big anodized brass vessels, our task was to take turns in stirring the Pongal, transferring to big brass plates and feeding the cows.

(They get to eat pongal only on this day!)

On this occasion, Bull fight also known as “Jalli Katttu” happens in Tamil Nadu and “Kanu Pongal” is celebrated by the Tambhram (Tamil Brahmin) community.

The ladies of the house pray for the welfare of their brothers. Even the unmarried girls and new born girl babies ( not kidding!) join the pooja and this has to be performed early morning just about Sun rise. I still remember we woke up at 5am when my little princess was about 8 months for her first Kanu Pongal.

On the previous night its a custom to visit elders , scrub the turmeric in forehead and seek their blessings.

Five different varieties of rice ( Sweet, Spice ,curd rice, Turmeric rice ,Kumkum rice) along with sugarcane and bananas are organized in turmeric leaves used during the puja and fed to the crows.

Though the festivities come to an end, wishing everyone never ending Harvest of Happiness!

Happy Karthik Deepotsav!

Karthigai Deepam!. My another favorite festival of lights other than Diwali!

Karthigai Deepam is celebrated every year on the full moon day of auspicious Karthik month as per Hindu Tamil calendar. Almost all South Indian states follow the tradition of lighting lamps at home and temples.It is also considered that Lord Shiva is in the form of light.

Preparation for the festival typically starts a week in advance, taking out the clay lamps, brass lamps(the one from your parents’ hard earned money gifted during marriage) cleaning, polishing the brass etc.

It is also a tradition to buy new lamps every year and to use old ones passed on from generations.

As always no festival is complete without the mouthwatering sweets. Sweets made out of puffed rice and Jaggery are must for Karthigai. I still remember my mom tasking us segregating rice grains(see pic below) from the puffed rice.

It takes really a lot of patience to do this. Next step is to mix with hot jaggery and prepare rice balls- famously called ‘Pori Urundai’

Thanks to my culinary skills in sweets, I always end up messing up some steps, so I choose to order an ‘Exclusive Karthigai Combo bag‘ from SweetKaramCoffee! ( Hope my MIL in heaven is not reading this!)

Happy Karthigai!

May the lights bring in loads of brightness to your life!

Credits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karthika_Deepam

My Memories of Navaratri-refreshed!

Dasara (a.k.a) Navaratri has always been my favorite festival since childhood.This is a 9 day Hindu festival celebrating Goddess Durga/feminine power during the month of October.

I remember every house in my native village -TamilNadu, India doing doll decorations for entire 9 days of Dasara.

As a kid I used to be curious on what “sundal” (delicacy made using different pulses ) is offered to guest in the neighbourhood homes.

My mom used to deck up all three of us in different attires every day!

Those good old days were fun until my dad put a full stop to prevent unnecessary visitors in the village since my sis’s were teenagers. That was the last ever golu I remember.

I always used to wonder when I would start my own celebrations and we started after our sweet little princess was born.

Since then we have been doing this for a more than a decade now and each year is an excitement! Starting with setting up the stand ,what new dolls to shop,gifts ,looking for new ideas and of course 👗 💄matching accessories for each day /selfies /groupies with friends and family.

Especially the last two years have been different due to the pandemic.

Since my immune system is pandemic friendly I had to consider many factors this year.(Last year right after Dasara had the virus though I was strictly following CAB protocols!)

Should I invite only close friends and family, vaccinated only💉 or invite on specific days ,social distancing,with mask etc, (more difficult than scheduling an official meeting)

Added to this we now have a 🐕 furry family member and had to choose a location un accessible to him. Being a techie, I am a busy bee when the Land of Liberty wakes up.With all the above, decided to invite neighbours within the community during the weekend and holidays.

Now the prep:unboxing the stand ,choosing the right backdrop,looking for perfection and troubling my better half for inputs and feedback!

Before the stand era, we used to salvage old carton boxes,tables /whatever available at home to create the steps.

After the prep,next step is to decide what to arrange where.

The 9 steps have a spiritual connotation.

First step is always a Kalash with wooden doll set.Lower most step starts with non living things,then fruits and vegetables,animals, birds ,Humans,Gurus and then the Divine, signifying the spiritual progression of human beings.

Every year some theme will emerge as I arrange.

In addition to this I also try to decorate lamps,try out theme parks or mimic village life ,traditional Indian marriage (pic below) etc

It is also a tradition to offer haldi/kumkum to the guests.

The last two days are Saraswathi Pooja and Vijayadashami.

Saraswathi Pooja – worshiping Goddess of knowledge-the day I used to long for as a kid (you don’t need to study since your books are in the Pooja and now break from office -Hope you can see my laptop )

Also the day our musical instruments (Veena and Guitar are dusted!).Festivities ends on the last day ,Vijayadashami-Victory of good over evil.

The most difficult part is to safely pack and put everything back in it’s place. Thanks to my family and my little lift have been able to manage till now.