RGB Monday

Our Colorful Pongal Kolam

Not alone Pongal, any festival or event is not celebrated without drawing Kolam in Tamil culture. Although kolam is a Hindu custom or tradition, drawing a beautiful kolam in front of or in the courtyard of an event venue draws attention and adds charm to it. In Hindu custom, drawing Kolam is a daily activity of a household (mostly the women) in front of their house; until we moved to the 1st floor of our native home, mom used to draw Kolam every day. But now, due to a knee problem and difficulty in waking up early morning, she stopped drawing Kolam; but my aunt continued to draw the kolam on our doorstep, which was common to both of us.

This year's Pongal festival was better than the previous year where the covid and some personal losses took away the festive spirit and celebration mood. Though, this year too, we missed the traditional way of celebration with mud pot Pongal, what made it special was the arrival of the two new nephews. My sister’s (cousin) son, nephew Jeswanth, went to their house to celebrate Pongal while my brother’s son Kavin came here from their maternal home for the Pongal. Now Kavin had gone back, and Jeswanth returned. I hope you guys too had a good festival time if you celebrate Pongal.

New Year with Nephews

We celebrated our new year by cutting the cake in the wake of the New Year, keeping ourselves awake beyond midnight like usual, but unusual about this New Year was the cake and nephew Jeswanth. After 2015 I stopped cutting cakes for the New Year, not that I don't celebrate the new year, and though I lost interest in cake cutting, the real reason was no one to celebrate. 

For the New Year 2013, all my cousins met me on New Year’s Eve and stayed at our house all night to cut the New Year's cake and celebrate with joy. That was the last time I enjoyed the New Year and later years were just we 3 - me, mom, and dad - woke up till midnight, watching television, which boomed with a loud greeting of the happy New Year and a few greeting calls from dear ones beginning our year. 

Usually, my brother used to go to bed early or visit his friends on New Year’s Eve, so it was only the 3. Now, after shifting to the native home with my uncle's family in the adjacent portion, we have at least a few people around, but I still miss the cousins' company with whom I find delight. This year, my uncle's family came up with a surprise cake, and the arrival of my nephew is the reason behind it. This being his first new year (and first time seeing a cake), he was excited only to pick up the cake to eat rather than cutting the cake.

My nephew's activities have increased a lot these days, it's fun to watch them, and he's eight months now to sit and crawl on his own, and except for the time he sleeps, it is hard to control. Keeping an eye on him has become a must. He was kept awake till midnight to cut the cake, but unhappily, he has kept away from eating the cake as we can't feed him the same without consulting the doctor because he just got well from diarrhea.

Kavin - my other nephew and brother's son - 2 months old, visited us last week. As per custom, a newborn baby has to stay at his maternal parent's home for at least 5 months before moving into the paternal home. So, they stayed only for two days, and he's too little to have fun as he smiles and cries at the same. He notices the movements and sounds to either smile or cry, and he's someone who sleeps all day and is awake through the night. So, his wake-up time is too little in the day times to play. 

Welcome 2022

The sun, setting between the row of trees in the neighborhood, Besant Nagar. The sunset here to rises somewhere as a brand-new morning or a day, as well as a year, to dismiss is impossible. However, let wish and welcome the new year to bring a lot of positivity in lives (better not to be covid positive); cheers to mind, the goodness of health and prosperity for everyone to sustain and progress in life. Wish you all a Happy New Year, 2022.

Christmas décor 2021

Last year covid has spoiled the mood of celebrating or decorating for Christmas. Though this year also the situation isn't far different. The practicalities of the mask and the vaccine have allayed concern. But still, we aren't coming out of protective wear as Omicron is speeding up in the country. I have done a simple tree decoration and put some serial lights over the balcony and indoors - the LED light from Deepavali retains the living room.

As usual, mom decorated the Christmas tree on my behalf, or to say, she did everything, on my instructions. To add fun, I bought a set of Santa caps, specs, and a band for my nephew Jeswanth to dress like a Santa. He already has a red dress to match the accessories, but he is interested in playing with those rather than wearing them for the poses.  

A candid of dad and mom with the little one

I share some photos of the decor and Santa Jeswanth here. And I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Let the new year brings hope and ways quittance of the Covid. Stay safe and celebrate safely. 

You can see the gingerbread house and birth of christ I made with popsicle sticks in 2018.

Tree in the living room, before it put on balcony.

My Deepavali celebration Video 2021

I share here a short video on my Deepavali celebration of fireworks. I like fireworks from childhood, and my favorites are night crackers and sky shots. Deepavali is the only time we get a chance to light and watch fireworks; though I only hold up to sparkler, I buy sky shots and fancy fireworks to let someone light on my behalf, and I watch and shoot with interest. The same applied this time, and for a change, my childhood friend (from the neighborhood) lit up the sky shots instead of my cousin, who used to do it yearly, had gone out on a trip. I added some mild 3d effects available with the video editor to make this photos/videos show.

Time to Light - Deepavali

The thought of just a day left for Deepavali brings excitement within. Though the weather wasn't that favorable to celebrate Deepavali - the festival of lights and fireworks - as it kept raining for the last few days and a warning from meteorology that there could be rains across the day of Deepavali. The covid has its share already in defusing the light of Deepavali; the supreme court's guidance has gripped the firework sale, but at masses, these don't matter when purchasing things and celebrating the festival. 

I love rain, and it must keep away drought, but never during the festivals, especially Deepavali. 

I hung rice led serial in our living room for Deepavali 

I see a general feeling of excitement of Deepavali is missing among the people; perhaps their lifestyle changes and influence of gadgets has kept their interest away from the festivals and celebrations. I have fond memories of Deepavali, the most anticipated days of our life - from childhood till now - an inexplicable feeling embraces. Since I grow up lighting fireworks, it has become an inseparable thing during Deepavali, and every year, I buy some fireworks as I enjoy the same. 

During childhood days, we begin celebrating Deepavali a month early to the festival. We buy crackers loosely from the nearby petty shop and burst one by one during the weekends. I recollect how joyful the days are then - with our neighborhood friends, we go for cracker hunting on the day of Deepavali, picking up the unburst crackers on the road to burst. Roaming the street is my favorite pass time, then, and it's fun as we keep talking and walking around the streets in our area.

I miss so many things right away, and when I think back, I feel the pleasure and pain equally. Not only that I miss those days, but I also couldn't make up with the contemporary world, even for the smallest desires and right to be human. Though I buy a variety of fireworks, what I could light was only a sparkler. My world is little with endless vision and works to do, but being a dependent, I could not achieve anything without aid from anyone. 

Hope you all have a Happy and Safe Deepavali! 

Deepavali Shopping

Deepavali or Diwali - the festival of lights - isn't far away! There are many reasons to celebrate Diwali traditionally, and we aren't going into it, but it is one of the grandest festivals celebrated in India. And illuminating lights, which means hope, in other words, is showered all over our lives. 

Festivals are usually associated with people and celebrated together. But being a pandemic time, we are forced to work against that practice of what I believe festivals are. Festivals open doors to new things, like buying new clothes, sweets and anything associated with the same and where could we buy those other than in shops. 

Diwali, being one of the foremost festivals, shopping is unavoidable all over India, and for people living abroad, the shops come up with various discounts and varieties to attract people. I think my last shopping for a festival was perhaps Diwali that was more than 20 years back. I could still remember holding the hand of my parents rush out of Ranganathan street, a shopping street in T.nagar, Chennai, famous for clothing, jewels, and home appliances. 

The popular stores in Chennai like Chennai silks, Pothys, and other parts of the states had already started to rock the television channels with their glistering ads to attract customers. Only Super Saravana Stores Annachi is missing! FYI November 4th is Diwali. 

Today as we complain about seeing the festival rush in the news, we forget we had been one among them then. My parents take new dresses for us only during the festival of Pongal, Deepavali, and Tamil New Year other than the wedding of my uncles and aunt. But these days we avoid festival shopping, and parents visit the stores when they are free, and we need a new dress.

Usually, we don't purchase readymade outfits then, and even today, I wear only stitched clothes according to my comfort. I prefer light color clothes, so I go with any patterns and colors my parents chose. Contrary to me, my brother and other cousins buy banded or trendy clothes. 

Every year for the Ayutha pooja festival - this time October 14th,  my late uncle used to purchase a bunch of clothes for his workers, and it was my mom and aunts do it on his behalf, and it was the big purchase we do. After new clothes, sweets, and snacks, lighting diyas, Diwali is incomplete without fireworks or crackers. 

Since fireworks are my favorite, people who disagree on using fireworks should spare me. These days my only purchase for Deepavali is fireworks. Thanks to the availability of crackers online, I could easily choose the firework I like from the laptop/mobile; the firework is either sent to the home or a nearby freight warehouse where we collect in person.

Many YouTubers these days are busy making fireworks reviews and promoting stores that sell crackers at discounted prices; I chose the most reliable of them. I purchased crackers from Modern Crackers, which sell fireworks online at an 82% offer, but I don't believe their words, and for me, the price was fair enough to purchase. 

The first-time purchase with them went smooth, and they were kind enough to answer the queries and delivered the parcel to the nearest freight warehouse. From there, dad picked it up. As usual, I avoided loud crackers and went behind the cheerful fancy fireworks that emit less pollution than before, known as green crackers. Some crackers bear that symbol on the boxes, and some don't, but they seem to belong to the same. 

I hope you guys have a safe purchase this Diwali season following all the protocols of wearing masks, social distancing, and sanitizing. While celebrating the Deepavali happily, we should not forget those making this possible - the doctors, nurses, and frontline workers with whose cooperation the covid had brought down to the least affected. Moreover, with many sensible people and followers of the rite of the covid protocol.

Thank you

#deepavalishopping 

Idol of the year - Ganesh Chaturthi

Contrary to the present cloudy weather, yesterday was sunny and a bit hot, yet I saw a beautiful sky over the evening in accompany of altocumulus clouds with mild orange sunset that went hide behind a building. For some time now, there's been balanced weather of the sunny morning and rainy evening due to the upper air circulation transforms into super cool weather, which isn't usually like before. 

The Ganesh Chaturthi - aka Vinayaka Chaturti, in short, is the birthday of Ganesh, who doesn't need an intro as being a prime deity of the Hindu religion - celebrates the arrival of Ganesh to earth from   Kailash, believed to be the abode of Siva. Every year we place an idol of Ganesh, made of clay, at home to worship on this day, and in the morning, dad bought a clay idol from a roadside shop -  the temporary stalls that pop up during the festival times - worshiped; offering special ingredient to the lord and ate our lunch along with those. 

And later in the evening, we dissolved the clay idol in a bucket of water rather than dissolve it in a nearby water body as per the ritual. We adapted to this method 12 years ago to preserve the waterbody and use the muddy water for gardening.  Today many are following this idea, and some went further in producing idols with a seed inside, and by burying the idol, we help growing trees. 

Our idol dropped in a bucket of water to dissolve.

Jeshwanth as Krishna

Krishna Jayanti (Aug 30), or whatever it's called in other parts of India, is a Hindu festival that marks the birth of Krishna, a Hindu god. According to mythology, many tales are told relevant to Krishna; and he's a popular figure among the women for his naughtiness, and for every mother, their child represents Krishna, so on the occasion of Krishna Jayanthi, they dress their children as baby Krishnan. And this seems like a tradition in every Indian Hindu family who has a baby at home. 

I don't remember me dressed as Krishna or have a photo, but my brother had been dressed this way, followed by my cousins walked the same path. No matter who, kids do look adorable in whatever way they dress. And now, my little nephew too joined the tradition, and at just 4 months, he's too young for this play. I have seen kids who don't cooperate easily to dress up fancy, but amazingly Jeswanth was very quiet and posed cutely. 

The general notion that children would cry was missing on him, and he would cry only when put to bath, so it wasn't an issue dressing him, but once excited, his movements become rapid, and nothing stays on him. It's not easy to keep things in place if the kid's cooperation was nill. In this way, I admire his attitude, and anyone seeing his photos was amused, and I hope you guys too feel the same. 

Krishna Jayanthi isn't a festival celebrated on my paternal side. It was my maternal parents who had cows and did dairy business. In mythology, Krishna is mention to be around cows, and he was also portraited as a cowherd, so naturally, Krishna was inspired to be their favorite deity to celebrate. Being a milk producer, they do not buy dairy products from outside as they produce the yogurt, butter, and ghee they need themselves. And butter being the favorite of Krishna, they offer all their dairy products, including homemade snacks, and celebrate the festival by placing idols of Krishna and cow-calf. 

Mom celebrates the festival by drawing little footsteps from the house entrance to the prayer room in the belief of welcoming Krishna into the home. Mom introduced this tradition at home after married into the family, and from then, she follows it annually. 

A cow and calf

A cow and calf drove down our street on Mattu Pongal – the third day (Jan 15) of the Pongal festival celebrated to thank cattle. Each year we find a cow or two drove down our street after the worship or perhaps to or fro from a temple visit since they are celebrated on this day. I guess the cows are walked down from a nearby slum because they could only be seen at those places in the city.

Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS

RGB Monday

Let’s begin the month (February) colorfully!

My aunt’s another colorful butterfly kolam from the Pongal festival.

Kolam considered an auspicious and morning exercise for women in general, as they bend down and connect the dots, they do some math’s blending the body and mind. Due to knee problems and space for drawing, keep mom away from following the custom, so my aunt takes care of drawing kolam daily in front of the house as we share the same gateway. Lately, there was a talk of keeping a maid to do the task daily on our behalf. Not every day we drew color Kolam; so, it won't be difficult in general, and many of our neighbors have such maids, who used to draw simple and same design as Kolam.

Kadalur Dam – First outing of the year

I haven’t planned to go out during the Pongal holidays esp. to avoid the festival crowd, even though the government had forbidden people from visiting tourist places and beaches during the Pongal holidays to prevent the spreading of coronavirus. I went out on the Mattu Pongal day (Jan 15), and this day is usually crowded on ECR (east coast road), unlike the Kaanum Pongal (the next day), with a peak in-crowd, but the closer of tourist places left minimum vehicles on the road. Only the amusement parks were opened, with a fully loaded parking lot.

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My brother said, let's go for a ride on ECR, and the idea of visiting the Kadalur check-Dam came on the way. I came to know about this dam from my cousin-sister, who checked the dam last year. And I wanted to check the dam then, but the pandemic made it impossible, and I learned later the recent rain had brought enough water to the dam to overflow.

It's always a dream to see water in the Palar river, which often looks dry, other than little pools of water. The Palar river rises in the Nandi hill of Karnataka and runs into Andhra Pradesh, and then into Tamil Nadu, for a length of 350 km before merged at the sea. The dam is about 75km from Chennai on the ECR, and there’s a signboard indicating the road to the dam (take left) before crossing the river.

The check-dam is built at the mouth of the river for about a km in length, and in between Vayalur-Kadalur village, where the river meets the sea. The road passes through the narrow streets of Vayalur village, ends at the north bank of the river, and then a mud road slides to the dam. When we went, there were already a dozen cars and bikes parked in front of the river, and many people were having fun by sliding through the spillway and taking bath at the river. Despite the slippery spillway and rocks around the dam, this seems to be a safe place to relax and enjoy the bath as a family.

It was noon when we arrived at the dam, and the sun was shining above our heads, so we could not get clear pictures of the place as there was too much sunlight. I even couldn't shoot the flock of pelicans taking flights above the dam site, and they should have come up fishing at the dam. The water stays up to and beyond the bridge of the ECR, which is something I have never seen before – the last flood I saw on the Palar river was in 1997. We quickly moved from there as the sun was quite sharp on us.

The dam is built in 2019 with funding from Kalpakkam Atomic Station and was opened by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palanisamy. And the best time to visit the dam is post-monsoon, the only time when the river sees some flow of water. 

RGB Monday

The four days of the Pongal festival went with the flow and I was just idle watching a couple of newly released movies on OTT and entertained by other programs on tv and YouTube.   As usual, I went for Kolam hunting on our streets on the Pongal evening, but as I expected, I couldn’t see many colorful kolams, and some are in regular patterns to shoot. The Pongal festival wasn’t lively at home, and we miss the Pongal cooked in mud pot right outside the home, what we had done for the last four years, including two years along with uncle’s family. This year’s Pongal was the same as what happens when you eat Pongal – a dull feeling.

But the next day, the Mattu Pongal was good enough as I went on an outing on ECR to explore a couple of places, and what can give me happiness other than the opportunity of travel? I enjoyed the day, except for a couple of disadvantages, and this was my first outing with the sister-in-law, and it went all comfortably. I may write on the places in further posts with photos.

Now coming to RGB Monday, I share my aunt’s colorful pot Kolam she drew for the Pongal festival. Mom’s knee pain stopped her from participating in drawing Kolam, so my aunty managed to draw two more simple Kolams, the only colorful thing we added this year for the Pongal. Hope the Pongal is celebrated with happiness and peace at every house of Tamil people and a wonderful weekend for the others.

My Brother’s Wedding Story

Before I go ahead, I need to say I wasn't in mind to post this blog because we faced a great loss to pluck away the happiness instantly coming out of the wedding mood. The unexpected loss of one of my uncles shattered us to pieces and left us in a great void of grief. I should make a post soon on this ironman, who had been greater shoulder support to our family and who also conducted the wedding from the front.  

Despite the pandemic restrictions and alert and alarming Nivar cyclone, the last week's wedding of my brother went on well and trouble-free as along. What we anticipated wasn’t far disappointing, but instead, reversed in order of what we planned.

We headed to the wedding hall earlier than we planned as we had no idea when the cyclone would hit hard or reach its extreme, so we informed the cook to prepare lunch for us,  and the bride’s family too reached the hall by the afternoon for the evening reception. There’s a custom that the bride should be invited only from the temple rather than going straight to the wedding hall had been broken down by the Nivar cyclone.

The day the reception and wedding was surrounded by gusty winds and pattering rain, agree to blow along the resonating Nadhaswaram and Thavil – our traditional music instrument used in weddings and any auspicious functions. Our family friend Selvam and his team of instrumentalists hit the notch in their playback instruments. Perhaps because this’s a wedding everyone looked out for for a very long time, and the enthusiasm hasn’t left him alone.

Everything went on planning or timing we set on other than fewer disappointments. We anticipated more people for the reception and less for the marriage, but the cyclone kept the twist, thereby reversing the order. The threatening Nivar cyclone had kept away many people from attending the evening reception as many don’t want to take a risk paid a visit to the morning wedding. But there weren’t people up to our expectation, and we understand the situation wasn’t favorable to us and there’s a waste of food for about 200.

Glad we decided to advance going to the wedding hall and halted there for the night, instead of coming home and return in the morning, like how we planned first.  Sure it would be a bad idea to execute our former plan in the gusty wind and rain, and our stay at the wedding hall was comfortable too. The room allotted for us on the ground floor was spacious with two king-size beds, reminding the cottages we hire during our travel,  was convenient to stay and watch every aspect of the wedding.

The night wasn’t easily forgettable apart from the gusty wind and rain blasting outside, there’s something disturbed the sleep, and it was a cold night that didn’t allow us to use to twin a/c in the room. The bride and the groom looked fair at their wedding/reception outfits and makeups what didn’t go right at the engagement.  After the wedding, the couple went to Tirupati to fulfill the request from the bride’s side.

I wore the mask thoroughly at the wedding, while many didn’t care a bit. I keep insisting my father wear the mask. But during the rituals, it goes off.  I keep the mask away only when I got to pose for a photo!

We were worried about conducting the marriage in the pandemic period, but the cyclone steered the wheel differently. We stayed at the wedding hall till everyone leaves and we moved out only after loading the things the bride brings home as Seeru (gifts from her parents) in the mini-truck, and we also made sure that we didn't miss anything. We are almost content with the happenings at the wedding, and the couple is happy, and the sis-in-law is quite calm and familiar to practice though we haven’t met before. And everyone had our part of smiles through the event.

A group photo of our beloved families after the wedding session and the one standing 2nd from the right (with a big mustache) is our uncle who passed two nights ago in a heart attack. 

Preparing for Bro's Wedding

Brother’s wedding arrangements were going in full swing, and with only two days left for the occasion – of Nov 25^th evening reception and Nov 26^th morning marriage – the invitation process came to an end with Panthakaal on Sunday. Panthakaal is a pre-wedding ritual, where a wooden pole is planted in front of the house (a few days ahead of the wedding) after prayer for a trouble-free wedding ceremony. In the bygone era, word of mouth was the only source of communication; so pole planting ensures the passers-by get to know about the wedding and also the good news is passed to others.

Now, following the Panthakaal, Nalanggu is performed on him for the remaining days to the wedding. Nalanggu is an activity of applying turmeric paste on the cheeks, hands, and feet of the bride and groom by the married women, and as a blessing, saffron is applied to their forehead. Mostly it’s a 3-day ritual, and we are having guests visiting us every day to perform the rite, and my brother is at hold at home from Sunday.  Other than relatives, we invite friends and neighbors to visit us to perform the ritual, and for me, I get something special to eat at home in the evenings and at night as we have guests.

Everything goes well until now, and our house got a cheerful look like the wedding lights that set home in the festival glow. But not to forget, the Nivar cyclone is nearing us and threatening to mess the celebration mood as it is predicted to strike exactly on the dates of the wedding. We have no option other than facing anything that comes our way, but we hope the cyclone passes off quickly before the event began.

The last few weeks were kind of huff and puff for the parents, and presenting the invitation has kept them away from the afternoon naps and our bedtime to past 11 pm. My uncle's family next door has taken care of me while my parents were away on an inviting spree, we still can’t reach out to many of them as we got a very short time, and the pandemic is another troublesome kicking ass as well. Conducting a marriage in a situation of social distancing and mask-wearing is a different experience we’re looking forward to, and hope things work well for us safely and securely.

Deepavali Festival Celebration

Deepavali passed off peacefully, leaving us in a glowing festival of lights and fireworks. The day wasn’t far different from a regular day except for the sound of bursting crackers and night fireworks; I was in a self-celebration mood, spending the evening skywatching from the balcony at the various displays of aerial shots. There’s more than fireworks that are related to Deepavali, but people are no more interested in anything rather than staring or discussing at the mobiles. Smartphones are handled all-day, and people intimate with it like a newlywed, but the lust surrounds it never seems to diminish even on a cheerful, colorful, and sparkling festival of lights.

We had a couple of boys from the backstreet to join the festival night, and we lit some fireworks in the street. I enjoyed watching and taking some photos and videos of fireworks, and my favorites were the sky shots. It's only during this time (of Deepavali), we could see the dazzling show of fireworks in the sky, and the firework mode in the camera is an inspiration for me to shoot a perfect sky shot. But it seldom happens to me, and the GoPro helps me get some decent videos of the fireworks that are waiting to be edited before upload here. I downloaded video editing software and got into trouble as it slowed the system, I uninstalled it, but the system lost its speed and probably would need an OS reinstall. 

Just a week left for my brother’s wedding and everyone is so busy with work schedule, and taking the laptop to service is not possible and insisting couldn’t be right at the moment. So perhaps my blogging couldn’t be regular because I find it really difficult to make a post or upload photos in-between the lag.  Deepavali is always connected with nostalgic memories, and it becomes impossible to drive away from the thoughts of celebration, and I couldn’t stop comparing the past with the current. Though the trend has changed a lot these years – the sound of crackers and smoke level had also drastically reduced this year  – couldn’t create the festival mood naturally these days. I hope you guys had a great festival of lights. And don’t forget to check the short video below, having some glimpses of the celebration.

Happy Deepavali 2020

 Hope you guys have a Great Festival of Lights and Cheerful Weekend ☺

10 Days To Go

I’m counting the days for Deepavali. This year, November 14 is Deepavali or Diwali, and what makes it more special was, it falls on Children’s day – the birth anniversary of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who likes children a lot, thus this day is celebrated as Children’s day – and Deepavali is a festival more likely celebrated by the children like bursting crackers, wearing new clothes, and eating sweets. Deepavali is my favorite festival of all time, and I always look forward to this day for nothing but bursting and watching the fireworks. Kids grown up through the 90s could easily relate to what I mean and bursting how much crackers would be the task of the day and see who ends with abundant trashes in front of their homes.

In later years the loudness of crackers had become not my kind of thing, but my passion for fireworks hadn’t come down quite. The night fancy fireworks were my favorite thing from the past decade, and every year I buy fireworks, to only watch it turning my night into delightful light, and colors as someone lit fireworks on my behalf. Deepavali always surges an excitement in me and roll me down the slopes of memories of childhood, what I consider the best part of my entire life despite my belief of best is yet to come. The festival was in a real festive mood then, and the anticipations were high, to look forward to this day all the year perhaps because I was active then to ignite fireworks on my own to see it blast with great joy.

These days I almost forget this day until the day gets closer. My kind of celebration shrinks a lot at every passing year, and I was confined to my house alone rather than going around the neighborhood to enhance my festival mood by watching things happening around relevant to Deepavali. People’s interests had become varied from me, and they have their own set of activities to look after, and I don’t complain about it, and I can’t demand that they should take me out, and on these occasions, it was the cheerful memories of childhood keeps me going. It’s just 10 days to go for Deepavali, and I started to look forward to how to celebrate the festival, despite the pandemic drawback, I wish everyone had their best part of the festival.

October for Me

 

October, often reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi’s specs perhaps because the O – the first letter of the month October – resembles the shape of Gandhi’s specs and moreover October 2nd is Gandhi’s birthday and it could be the reason to connect O with his specs. Gandhi’s birthday is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanthi and we’re proud to say he’s the father of our nation!  

October Sky is one of my favourite movies and the teens experiment with rockets in the movie reminds me of the childhood days as kids when we explode firecrackers and the Indian festival of light, aka Diwali or Deepavali also often fall on the month of October is appropriate to connect. Diwali is a festival that we could not be far from fireworks or firecrackers and it is fun to play with those and watch rockets boom the sky with light and colours stroke a chord of sight.

Ayutha Poojai is another childhood delight that falls in the month of October this year. The festival celebrates weapons or tools, is conducted to maintain and cleans the machineries that helps in production and day-to-day activities will pull-off for a day or two to give rest to them and worship for the wellness of machineries and business. I grew up watching my uncle’s garage as our home was adjoined then and putting a step outside the home is left into the garage. So I don't need to say how well I put on delight during the Ayudha poojai festival which is celebrated as a family festival that please me when I join the employees  in decorating and cleaning the workshop. The festival was so delightful until my uncle was alive (he passed away in Dec 2001) and later they celebrated the festival but the spirit went missing. You can check the link here to read how delightful the festival was then.

October is the starting season of Northeast monsoon which bestows with rain across south east India and dipping of temperature makes favourable weather for traveling. Except for the areas along the Western Ghats, the Tamil Nadu experiences hot weather across the plains and it is from Oct to Feb the weather turns cooler. And it was the time I love to travel as it is a pleasure to do the same with windows rolled down rather using AC – only for highways cruising and dusty roads – the weather out here is inviting for a ride but I do remember the pandemic isn’t over.  I wish at the same time the monsoon flourishes this year at least to say 2020 wasn’t drought!

Hope all is well at your side and great month ahead.

RGB Monday

My colorful Pongal Pot

I created this lighted Pongal pot for the last month’s Pongal festival. I painted an old little earthen pot and wrapped led serial light around it and placed a bunch of paper on top for the bubbling shape. I placed it on the balcony during the festival nights and many passers-by take a look on it.