Navami h.52-45 , Uttarasadha Nakshatra h.54-38 , Atiganda Yoga h.02-08 , Balava Karana h.20-37
The last day of Navratri and yours truly has finally risen from her slumber.I wanted to post a lot of things for the last few days but too many journal,assignment deadlines coupled with quiz/sessionals/tests have prevented me against my wish to do so.
The season of coulours,dances,celebration,sweets,food was here.The celebration of Shakti/Devi,the consort of Shiva/Vishnu in all her glory.The celebration of Womanhood.Nine days of pure,unadulterated festivity.Brilliantly colored rangolis,pulchutridonously clad women,the bengali-pandals,the gujurati stick-dance and garbas and my Tamizh golus.
For the uninitiated,this is what the hindu festival of navratri is all about.
Goddess also known as shakti or devi is worshipped in three forms with nine names.One for each day.
Durga,the annihilator of everything evil and wicked is worshipped on the first three days.
Lakshmi,bestower of material wealth,money,power,fame on the next three days.
Finally Saraswati,the goddess of wisdom,education,knowledge is venerated on the third.
((The three together could be considered an equivalent of the powerpuff girls.))
On the ninth day all of us who normally claim to study hard throughout the year, give it a rest and let our brains and books cool.That is on Saraswati puja.
The next day ,on the eve of ayuthu puja we clean,bathe and dress all the intruments that make our living possible.Anything from a pen,scooter,AK-47,Bazooka,needle,zhadu is cleaned and given its share of manjal, kumkum.
Then,we have the Vijayadashami which is considered an auspicious day to start anything.Also,on this day we pay our obeisance to our teachers or guru's.
On the final day we celebrate Dusshera.On this day an effigy of Ravana is burnt in most parts of northern india symbolising the victory of good over evil.
According to smartha tradition Devi is considered as one of the five supreme powers.An equivalent of wonder-woman of the smarthan justice league.She is the female aspect of divine sans whom the male power becomes null and void.Hence,this festival celebrates the female divinty and power.
Three cheers to WOMAN-POWER! :)
Some of my best memories are associated with this time of the year.The most obvious being the GOLU.
Few things i really missed owing to me not being at home were:
1)The cleaning and laying of the ziggurat like golu padi and the dolls,which i claimed to hate but secretely loved doing, amidst all of my mom's obfuscatory instructions.
2)Cloying amounts of protein overdose on all nine days from all of my mom's friends.And an even priceless discussion of it's palatability ranging from "thu,ennadi idhu"."blech,yevlov uppu/oil","besh besh,perfect".
3)Sitting through croaking mami's singing who gently reminded us,"ippo thondai seri illai,avlova nalla padu midiyadhu".While, me and my friends discussed
"I wonder what sen aunty and gumbal are doing.i wish i was a bong,cha!"
"don't worry,you can still marry one di"
4)Waiting for the list of people invited to pack-off home so we could run off to our dandiya night,just to watch our gujju sisters majestically frugging around the dance floor while we desperately tried to catch on or just watched gapingly.
5)Misti doi,moti choor,sweet sundal,rasgulla,milk kheer......(sigh)
6)And ,not to forget the hours spent getting dressed in pink,orange,kajal,bangles,huge ear-rings and everything else.
Festivities are not times you just pray to a deity for something material,for me it is a time i thank Her for the family,friends and everything else i am blessed with.It is not about kolu,dandia,dressing,sweets ,it is about the memories and the people with whom you enjoyed all the above.
Here,i take this opportunity to give my season greetings to all mami's,mama's,uncle,auntie's,friends,pati,tata's,fellow tams and blog readers.
Yah,better late than never!
And,here is a small surprise for you.Since,i could not be at home and be a part of everything i wrote above.Here,is a little something i could come up with.Before that a small description.
KOLU means a sovereign sitting in her royal durbar. As per belief, the concept of arranging these Navrathri dolls on the plank is to depict that Goddess Mahishasuramardini is sitting in her Kolu, prior to the slaying of the demon Mahishasura.
Thanks a ton to SHANKY for helping me out with this.Few errors but i was too lazy to do it again.
No.You are not getting sundal until you sing or dance or mimic or show any one of your talents.Whatever it is that you do well,just record it and send it to me and i will showcase your talent on my blog.Then,you will be sent a complimentary pack of sundal,vathalai pakku,kannadi,pottu,seepu,valai. :) positively!
And for guys,will take you to the next dandiya raas :) positively!
you are just a camera or recorder away!
HAPPY NAVRATRI,DUSSERA AND EVERYTHING ELSE!!!!
(By the time most of you read this,you would have already digested all the edible and non-edible thoughts/entities of the celebration.Not my fault,Education kills.)
