Memories of Krishna Jayanthi

(I captured this art lately from a wall in my uncle's home.)

Keeping away my faith and disbelief, Krishna Jayanthi is a typical Hindu festival celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna - which falls today. Few years back I used to visit my grandma’s home on this occasion, since she celebrates the festival from her early days. Sometimes we (me & bro) put off to school on this day, showing reason that our friends in neighbor enjoying holiday, and visit our grandma’s home in evening or after return from school, incase went. After look after the tea shop along with grandpa, she would return home in evening and prepare for devotion. Those days aunt wasn’t married and its always fun being with her, and ever after marriage she used to visit on this occasion along with little kannan – my little cousin then.

On these occasion we used to see grandma to draw little foots of Kannan from the gateway in ground floor to first floor in home and she would draw those foots very beautiful and we also use to try with our little cousin’s feet, by dipping his foot on the dissolved rice flour and make him walk, but it isn’t easy to make him certain pace, so after few steps grandma would drew it with her hands. The pictures, idols and stores say that Kannan is cowherd, and hence grandpa has cows and buffalos, I thought then this was the reason why grandma celebrates this festival when mom doesn’t. There’s a kannan idol at grandma’s home and it’s one of a beautiful porcelain idol where in a shape of child kannan crawling with a hand full of butter.

On this day the idol was out off showcase and decorated by home jewels and kept on a table for worship, with brass lamps to glow at both sides. Seedai and Murukku made by grandma are kept in bowls at the table and being an ardent to the savory of seedai, I would be standing near the table, wait for the camphor to extinguish after worship to taste the seedai. Usually I don’t like butter and on this day they used to urge us to have little butter to taste, but I avoid it, thus aunt used to apply it on the mouth when I don’t expect. Once my little cousin was dressed like Kannan and he looks certainly sweet and till now that innocent face never conceal from memories and obviously it was the last time I remember I attended this festival.

There’re two types of seedai, one is salt and the other is jiggery, in these I love the jiggery seedai. The seedai is made of rice and urad dal flour, rolled like globe and dropped into the boiling oil pan and deep fried get us the tasty seedai. These days’ people buy seedai from stores and thus lose the zest of the festival and the keen tongues like us.

# Current song: Mukunda mukunda... one of my favorite from Tamil movie Dasavatharam