Friday, October 22, 2004
Let the festivities begin!
Festivals are some of the fondest memories I have from my kidhood. Or at least its just the fond parts that I remember! :) Counting all the different colors in the sarees while mom was shopping. Listening to her haggle with the phool waala. Thinking that she was the bravest woman in the world to take on that scary looking muchhad thele-waala when he tried to cheat her of 5 rupees on banana leaves. The milkman and dhobi asking for baksheesh. The din of multiple loudspeakers blaring godly cover-versions of current hit songs. (’man deewaana, bin devi ke, maane naa..‘ from Maine Pyar Kiya. Nopes, not making it up.)
Waking up at 4 in the morning to have a ‘head-bath’ :) Spending hours laboring over the muggu/rangoli at our doorstep. Arranging the dolls for display in the bommala koluvu. Mom’s obbattlu, boorlu and murukkulu. Mehta aunty’s fafdas and jalebis. Trivedi uncle’s motichoor laddoos sent from Kanpur by mail. The steady stream of uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and neighbors visiting ..
Including your favorite books in the Saraswati pooja. Going along with dad to his various clients’ factories to break a coconut in front of the machinery for the ayudha pooja on mahaanavami. Going to the playground in the evening for the Ramleela celebration and the burning of a giant fireworks-stuffed Ravana. Pestering mom-dad to allow you to stay out late so you can play dandia with your friends! Spotting your first crush at the dandia .. :)
The list, endless .. The memories, timeless .. revisiting you the most at this time of the year, from Dusshera to Deepavali. The time of the year that everything is just a blur of color, noise, smells, flavors, excitement and fun! The time of the year I miss home the most ..
Happy Vijayadashami to all!
Dussehra Subhakaankshalu..
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 8:42 AM
Thanks Paddy! Vijayadasami subhaakaankshalu to you too!
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 8:54 AM
Happy Dusherra to everyone ..
Lots of wonderful memories there ! .. you seem to have brought back very vividly and in surprisingly good “brings us back to those times” clarity the good times we had at festivals in India ..i call your blog the “get your nostalgia fix here” and so you the writer should be the nostalgiashwari by that account..
Nice artwork too :) digital rangoli eh ? . its almost like you are saying this is “my home” on the web and you are decorating it with a rangoli for the festival. very neat ..
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 10:34 AM
Dusshera Subhakankshalu to you too and every one else.
Thanks to your nice blog I am having a flash back to all my festive , frolic times back home. The “other side” is definetly green as far as festivals are concerned.
I can guarantee she is not kidding when she talks about the godly cover-versions of current hit songs. I remember one picked up from Tridev..”oye oye…oye Sai baba….Shirdi sai walee..”
And , on dhandia nights , your eyes are never been busy anyother time of the year. I used to have first to fifth crush on the same night:)
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 11:07 AM
Wow! Festivals..cool time of the year..favs being diwali and sankranti a.k.a crackers and kites :). This post is such a nostalgic trip down the memory lane :). Talking of “Mugulu”, I used to wonder (even now) why they used to have little balls of “Peda” (its not peda as in “peda”…its peda as in “gobar” :p) arranged within the mugulu ?!?! and saraswati puja…I remember ke that day parents used to say not to study !! such a relief for once, no? lol ..For this diwali I am lucky to make a trip to India (yay!) Will have all the fun :d.
Guys, Dushera “Shubhakankshalu” :)
P.S - Google came up with a desktop search software. You can check it out here http://www.desktop.google.com/, or read more about it here http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/technology/circuits/21stat.html
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 1:34 PM
Good post. Having a mother who was a Hindu, brought great benefits for me from my maternal side. Every major Hindu festival, we’d rush off to ‘Paati Veedu’ (Grandma’s house for the non tamilians :) ), and good ol’ Thaatha (Grand dad), whose blue-eyed boy, I was, would make sure, there were enough sugar canes during Pongal, and enough fire crackers for me and my brother during Deepavali. Not to mention, Paati’s delicacies on such occasions. And during Ramzan or Bakr-Id, my maternal side would come over to our house to feast on my mom’s widely popular biriyani. Of all, I miss my late grand dad the most. How I wish he was still around.
Saturday, October 23, 2004 @ 1:19 AM
Oh, me forgets. Happy Vijayadasmi/Dusshera everyone.
Saturday, October 23, 2004 @ 1:23 AM
Sorry, for being late. Happy Vijay Dashmi to all.
Saturday, October 23, 2004 @ 2:04 AM
Belated Dussehra and Vijayadasami wishes to all…
Megs, gagra cholis and silk sarees…sigh…these dhandiya crushes…sigh…. :-)
Sunday, October 24, 2004 @ 2:02 AM
Happy Vijaydashmi!
I was traveling to the US on the Deepawali day last year - not nice!
Hope you have a good time!
Sunday, October 24, 2004 @ 11:46 PM
boy! did you take a trip down the memory lane or what! :)
Hope this time was as good.. Happy Vijayadashmi to everyone!
Monday, October 25, 2004 @ 12:23 AM
[Anirudh] Thank you! I really liked your interpretation of this being my home on the web and my decorating it with a rangoli .. didn’t look at it that way :)
[gvenum] Yeah its that time of the year when your eyes (not to mention other faculties) are working overtime! Glad the blog brought back some memories, Oye Sai Baba included! :)
[pingoo] Ah thankoo! :) To my knowledge they did the gobar pedas only for Sankranti.. more specifically for the first of the three days of S’kranti called Bhogi. Its a dedication to the holy cow.. gomaata and all things related to her, including gobar.
Yeah, the not having the study was a welcome change! The funda being that you needed to stop studying that day, so you could do ‘vidyaarambha‘ (start of education) on the next day - on Dusshera. Something like that..
Trip to desh, that too during Diwali! You lucky thing! Have fun! :)
[Hifzur] Sounds like you had the best of both worlds! And thanks for the wishes! Hope you’re having a good Ramzan!
[Padmanabhan] Thanks for the visit :)
[Jupe] I know I know! ;) I wouldn’t call this a trip into the past for you though.. You still seem to be in a world of ghaghra cholis and dandia crushes, so its more like present continuous :>
[Deepak] Travelling on a festival is no fun, i’ll agree. Although I remember I flew once on the evening of the 4th of July in the US (not exactly a festival, I know) and got to witness the fireworks from the sky above! An aerial view of the fireworks isn’t something you get to see everyday, so that was kinda cool! Thanks for the wishes!
[oxy_moron] Yeah got a li’l carried away :) Hope your holiday was a good one!
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 @ 9:47 AM
Yea ur right, its for Sankranti ! I thought only one day was bhogi..nyways. About the gomataa thingy..I remember there is one day specially for gomataa .. its celebrated a day or two after sankranti…its called “maat pongal” (maad = cow). Whoever invented the concept of “vidyaarambha” pulled a real nice trick to escape studies :p..lol.
Thursday, October 28, 2004 @ 8:02 PM
[pingoo] Clarification time! Yes you are correct, bhogi is only one day. Sankranti actually has three parts, one per day - Bhogi, Makara Sankranti, Kanumu. That’s what I meant by “first of the three days of S’kranti called Bhogi“. Hope that helps!
Didn’t know about this maad = cow stuff. That funda is begging for a mad cow disease pun, but i’ll be good and resist ;)
Friday, October 29, 2004 @ 4:01 PM