Pattu pavadai, Sundal and more…
“Oru paatu paaden ma”.
No this is not a post about “ponnu parkal”. Being that time of the year again, I mean Golu time, am reminded of my childhood. I grew up with my bro, sis and my athai ponnu and paiyan. Five of us all growing up together in one house makes for plenty of memories together. Of these Navaratri time was special. Vidhya and I are six months apart so we were as close as two girls growing up together could be. We went to paatu class, dance class and whatever else class together.
During Navarathri season my mom and hers would get us to wear our pattu pavadais and go around with them visiting neighbours and collecting sundal. Being the chamathu girls we were we would dutifully wear pattu pavadai, plenty of flowers on our braided heads, jimiki and a gold chain and walk from home to home singing songs (rather Vidhya would sing and I would pretend) and collecting thamboolam and sundal.
When people came to our house, we would be asked to get the thamboolam packets ready so amma and paati could give them out. Little did I know then these little traditions would morph into something very different. Where I live now, I still keep golu. I get invited to others homes to see their golu. Of course am too old to be wearing pattu pavadai but I don’t get to see little girls wearing them either. The mami(s) sing no doubt but somehow the experience is different.
It is possible that the innocence is lost in my eyes. Because I expect more I seem to enjoy it lesser.
Before I start sounding like a disgruntled old lady let me state that I truly enjoy these festivals just that I can’t help comparing them to the ones in my past.
Happy Navarathri everyone and here’s to many more in the future.
omg!! not again…just wrote an entry on navarathri;come here and see this
ESP?!?? though the view is slightly different. May be I have not started doing it there, don’t know how the experience will be!
Happy Navarathri to you and the family, the golu looks beautiful - the one place I have ever seen it is at Lavanya’s …this was a good reminder. Thanks.
By the time I was in high school the navaratri and even the sundal magic gave away to a process of dry rationalization. In the US , my challenge today is this : How does one decline kolu invitations citing your belief system (the lack of it) but at the same time not hurting the inviter’s sentiments.
will defly ask you to Pretend a song ,I mean sing a song
when you come to our golu on friday:).