As I sit with my bowl of seeyam and ulundhu vadai, my mind takes me on a wild trip of all Navaratris I've known to date! The 9 days, followed by Vijayadasami, has always been a fun period, as all festivals are intended to be, with what it means to me changing with time. My earliest memories of Navaratri are from Bahrain, where the Tamil community there used to be extremely active, with golus being a regularity. The nine days, used to be a period of extreme socialising (Socialising amongst Indian groups is far more in foreign countries, than so in India, but during Navaratri, this just moves into a different dimension altogether). The moms would be the main stars of Navaratri, the ladies rather, they would be needed to go and collect vethala paaku - betel nut, pazham - fruit and possibly some gift usually silk cloth, and those who were used to exercising their vocal chords, would sing a song or too, and as old Tamil uncles would say, "veede kala kattum" (the entire house would be up in spirits, figuratively). With all the travelling to various houses happening in Bahrain, the food every night would be an amalgam of sundal - Navaratri's primary food delicacy, a different variety made on each of the nine days, collected at different houses. There would also be dinner gatherings, usually at the place of the person who hosts you at the last time slot of the day, around 10 pm maybe. For the children, especially me, who was majorly into mythology, the main attraction would be the toys in the golu. Especially the ones people got there, from summer vacations in India, Indian mud toys were just the best (and still are :-) ).
After we moved in to India, the texture of the festival began changing. The first few years here, the excitement grew, because more golu toys were in access. The Mada streets in Mylapore, maybe my favorite place in Chennai, would have a hundred shops selling toys, packed in four streets. Apart from the usual Rama-Sita-Lakshmana-Hanuman, Dasavatharam, Raja-Rajeshwari, the crawling Krishna, the Chettiars and their vegetables and the Ashtalakshmis, which were a commonality in almost every golu, one would also want to stuff their golu with new, never-seen-before toys, and try to make his/her golu unique in one's own way. My personal favorites among the various stuff we bought/made were a couple of my Mom's Tanjore paintings (Raja Rajeshwari and crawling Krishna, yet again), and a Kailasa set. The Kailasa set, we tried to make more sophiscated with each passing year. There was this basic setup of Lord Shiva and family sitting atop Kailasa, and Narada, Mahavishnu et al. in a posture of prayer below. We tried to make the setup even more appealing with constructing a Himalaya like scenario around it, and a temple-like theppa kulam, around which there was home-grown grass, starting from nought on day one, it'd go up to covering the temple on day nine. I enjoyed contributed in making all this, and I helped my mom and grandmother do this, till even last year. To me, the golu has always been the best part of the navaratri.
As I grew up, it also became the time when I could invite friends home. So, the culture in schools in Chennai was, if parents went to meet their friends and get vethala-paaku pazham, why not our friends too? So, from about class 8, I think, we started calling friends home, who in turn called us too, and there was a lot of travel during these days. This was fun, and the day friends came home, was the day I started expecting eagerly every year. It used to be great fun, I still remember vividly the days, when Shrids, Navneet, GL, J, KP, Varun, Kaushik and the rest used to come home, we used to let the mothers talk, and used to find our time to chat inside. Especially in class 11 and 12, when academics were already at our necks and threatening to drown us, this used to be a welcome relief, ten days, when academics couldn't really play its games, even if it could, we didn't care!
After moving into college, friends moved away. Most part of my 10 days would be spent in college, maybe for the exception of Saraswati Pooja/ Ayudha Pooja (when I'd go around after the pooja, applying chandanam to all the ayudhas - appliances at home, electronic and non-electronic, and Heru would come behind me applying kumkum to the same), and Vijayadasami (the day when all new endeavours are supposed to be started, ironically the day of Navaratri when insti stays closed on account of Dussehra). I'd still be home to plan the golu, a day or two before Navaratri, and be off once the golu was kept. Very few memories stick in here. One was of a nightout with Rak and Shre at my place on a night of Navaratri in the first year, though this has nothing to do whatsoever with the idea of Navaratri. Another was, I invited my friends Shaileshh, Vasuki, Midhun, Sritej, and Prasad for lunch on the day of Ayudha Pooja in my third year. It was a day of awesome food, following which we went to Kapali temple, and the Marina beach, after having the famed Mada veedhi rose-milk in between. That was another really awesome day.The Vijayadasami day also has a few memories associated with it. Around ten years ago, on that day, I started learning music, though it didn't last for too long. I joined KK sir's class on Vijayadasami day in 2005, and that's an association that has lasted for real long. I started learning the Vedas in insti's temple on Vijayadasami day in 2010, another day worth remembering. If not anything else, Vijayadasami day would be filled with studying, studying and more studying. After all, what's the best endeavor for a Tambrahm to start? Mugging! :-D
I hope I haven't bored the readers a whole lot, but I just wanted to record all this, as I randomly remembered them. After all, in all probability, I wouldn't be home for Navaratri for the first time in twenty-one years. I will though, in spirit and on Skype, passing on instructions for what to keep and what not to, in the golu next year!
After we moved in to India, the texture of the festival began changing. The first few years here, the excitement grew, because more golu toys were in access. The Mada streets in Mylapore, maybe my favorite place in Chennai, would have a hundred shops selling toys, packed in four streets. Apart from the usual Rama-Sita-Lakshmana-Hanuman, Dasavatharam, Raja-Rajeshwari, the crawling Krishna, the Chettiars and their vegetables and the Ashtalakshmis, which were a commonality in almost every golu, one would also want to stuff their golu with new, never-seen-before toys, and try to make his/her golu unique in one's own way. My personal favorites among the various stuff we bought/made were a couple of my Mom's Tanjore paintings (Raja Rajeshwari and crawling Krishna, yet again), and a Kailasa set. The Kailasa set, we tried to make more sophiscated with each passing year. There was this basic setup of Lord Shiva and family sitting atop Kailasa, and Narada, Mahavishnu et al. in a posture of prayer below. We tried to make the setup even more appealing with constructing a Himalaya like scenario around it, and a temple-like theppa kulam, around which there was home-grown grass, starting from nought on day one, it'd go up to covering the temple on day nine. I enjoyed contributed in making all this, and I helped my mom and grandmother do this, till even last year. To me, the golu has always been the best part of the navaratri.
As I grew up, it also became the time when I could invite friends home. So, the culture in schools in Chennai was, if parents went to meet their friends and get vethala-paaku pazham, why not our friends too? So, from about class 8, I think, we started calling friends home, who in turn called us too, and there was a lot of travel during these days. This was fun, and the day friends came home, was the day I started expecting eagerly every year. It used to be great fun, I still remember vividly the days, when Shrids, Navneet, GL, J, KP, Varun, Kaushik and the rest used to come home, we used to let the mothers talk, and used to find our time to chat inside. Especially in class 11 and 12, when academics were already at our necks and threatening to drown us, this used to be a welcome relief, ten days, when academics couldn't really play its games, even if it could, we didn't care!
After moving into college, friends moved away. Most part of my 10 days would be spent in college, maybe for the exception of Saraswati Pooja/ Ayudha Pooja (when I'd go around after the pooja, applying chandanam to all the ayudhas - appliances at home, electronic and non-electronic, and Heru would come behind me applying kumkum to the same), and Vijayadasami (the day when all new endeavours are supposed to be started, ironically the day of Navaratri when insti stays closed on account of Dussehra). I'd still be home to plan the golu, a day or two before Navaratri, and be off once the golu was kept. Very few memories stick in here. One was of a nightout with Rak and Shre at my place on a night of Navaratri in the first year, though this has nothing to do whatsoever with the idea of Navaratri. Another was, I invited my friends Shaileshh, Vasuki, Midhun, Sritej, and Prasad for lunch on the day of Ayudha Pooja in my third year. It was a day of awesome food, following which we went to Kapali temple, and the Marina beach, after having the famed Mada veedhi rose-milk in between. That was another really awesome day.The Vijayadasami day also has a few memories associated with it. Around ten years ago, on that day, I started learning music, though it didn't last for too long. I joined KK sir's class on Vijayadasami day in 2005, and that's an association that has lasted for real long. I started learning the Vedas in insti's temple on Vijayadasami day in 2010, another day worth remembering. If not anything else, Vijayadasami day would be filled with studying, studying and more studying. After all, what's the best endeavor for a Tambrahm to start? Mugging! :-D
I hope I haven't bored the readers a whole lot, but I just wanted to record all this, as I randomly remembered them. After all, in all probability, I wouldn't be home for Navaratri for the first time in twenty-one years. I will though, in spirit and on Skype, passing on instructions for what to keep and what not to, in the golu next year!
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