Yes, it has been a while since I posted to the blog. We are all doing well. Ramesh has begun to identify areas in Tamil Nadu that he wishes to travel to, to explore internet connectivity, and the effectiveness of internet-based government information. Rajani is doin
g well in school, and has a busy social life, with Ammu, Sanjana, Swetha, and Divya, all vying with each other for play-dates with her. Flat Stanley (Martina's private Flat Stanley Project) arrived from Beijing yesterday, and joined the birthday party for Mrs. Bear held by Swetha, Rajani and Sanjana. He will probably go to school with Rajani on Monday, and meet her teacher.The Festival of Navarathri=nine nights:
It is redundant to label my post Navarathri Nights, but I will let it be. Several stories revolve around the celebration of Navarthri, and I'll let my readers google it for all the versions. Simply put, the female power, as represented by goddesses Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswathi, (for three days each) is celebrated. Women and girls worship Shakthi, and are celebrated as the goddess herself. They are invited to their neighbors', friends', and relatives', and they, in turn, invite other women and children to their homes. Traditional thambulam consisting of betel leaves, nuts, coconut, fruit, flowers, turmeric, and sundal were given everywhere. [Men simply stayed home and reviewed the sundals from various homes!] Jute bags, that are both practical and chic, were the rage this year. Well-made paper bags too were seen everywhere. Mercifully, none of the obligatory gifts, the trappings of a wealthier society, that are so prevalent in the US thambulams were seen in Chennai! Rajani and I got to sing songs on Devi at all the golus [an impressive display of clay and paper mache dolls, depicting stories from the legends, figures of gods, and great people, are tastefully presented in odd-numbered steps [3-5-7-9-11, etc.]] that we attended. She was a big hit.
Ramesh's mother traditionally kept an artistic and impressive golu. She built Mount Kailash, the abode of Shiva and Parvathi; she had a cricket stadium with freshly grown grass, trains that traveled through tunnels, a unique rangoli each year; all in addition to about 11 or 13 steps of dolls, many rare and beautiful ones. Everywhere we went this year, everyone talked about the famous Sita Nivas golu. But for many years now, aching bones and simpler lives, have let the dolls remain in the attic. This year, she had the tough task of giving many of those dolls away, as they closed down Sita Nivas for renovation and their impending move with us.
We briefly drove the mada streets around Kapali temple to enjoy the doll display and sale. The parking spaces are taken up by stalls like these for a week leading up to Navarathri, and are still seen, a week after the festival. It is a great time to find bargains, and save the dolls for the next year's golu.I have memories of going golu bommai [golu doll] shopping with my grandmother, when I lived with her during my first year of college. She would drive a very hard bargain with the street vendor in T.Nagar. A "Ramar set" (consisting of
4 clay, painted 16-18" high dolls) would be priced at 60 rupees. My grandmother would counter that with an offer of 8 rupees! Even as I pretended that I was not with her, and wished that the pavement would open up for me to disappear in to, she would have closed the deal at 12 rupees!
Quite out of practice at doll-shopping, I ventured to purchase a single doll for Rajani's school golu. A countered the initial price of 30 rupees with a tough 10! We had the doll wrapped up at 15! Not quite my grandmother's grand daughter, but I was quite pleased with myself!
A broad selection of sabha, TV, and radio concerts were available to choose from during the 10 days of the festival. I enjoyed several on the radio. Rama Ravi, Nisha Rajagopalan, among others, sang wonderful one-hour concerts, with rare and familiar Devi kritis.
We took time off to visit Parakulam, a small village in Kerala, during the last 3 days of Navarathri, to experience dasami villaku = the 10th day-festival. I will write my observations and add plenty of photographs in my next post - Worshiping the Ancestral Deities - which should come along pretty soon. Until then!
Quite out of practice at doll-shopping, I ventured to purchase a single doll for Rajani's school golu. A countered the initial price of 30 rupees with a tough 10! We had the doll wrapped up at 15! Not quite my grandmother's grand daughter, but I was quite pleased with myself!
A broad selection of sabha, TV, and radio concerts were available to choose from during the 10 days of the festival. I enjoyed several on the radio. Rama Ravi, Nisha Rajagopalan, among others, sang wonderful one-hour concerts, with rare and familiar Devi kritis.
We took time off to visit Parakulam, a small village in Kerala, during the last 3 days of Navarathri, to experience dasami villaku = the 10th day-festival. I will write my observations and add plenty of photographs in my next post - Worshiping the Ancestral Deities - which should come along pretty soon. Until then!
