Ganpati Bappa Maurya

We celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi today. Thankfully it was on a weekend so we could make the kozhakattais at leisure and not rush the festivities as we had to for Krishna Janmashtami. After making the kozhakattais we did a small puja and then devoured all the kozhakattais before we could even take proper photos of it :)

Our temple was inaugurating their fundraising campaign for an expansion project. Since we knew we'll get delayed due to the puja at home we made our contribution on the previous day itself. We made our way to the temple slowly at around 4:00 pm. The temple was flooded with devotees. What really stood out in the sea of devotees was a wave of red color. Everywhere we turned we spotted atleast one Nepali. All of them had turned up in their wedding attire. Suddenly I realized that they were observing Teej (something similar to Karva Chauth). I have never seen so much red ever in my life before.

I couldn't help but feel nostalgic amidst all this chaos and rush. I was recollecting my experience in Mumbai during Visarjan. Everyone was out on the streets that evening, singing, dancing, jumping in sync to the fast beats. The air around us was electrifying. Colors were sprayed in all directions; everyone was pink by the end of the evening. Ganesh idols of all shapes and sizes were transported by the indefatigable devotees. I suddenly missed the festive spirit I experienced that evening. There was a lot of crowd in the temple but the festive atmosphere was sorely lacking.

Hopefully I will get to see another visarjan someday in Mumbai. Till then we chant GANPATI BAPPA MAURYA!!!

Aadi Perukku

My husband & I were savouring our first cup of coffee on Saturday when my mother called from India. She reminded me that it was Aadi perukku (or padinettam perukku - falls on the 18th day of the Tamil month Aadi). Since it is not like diwali or pongal it never occured to me that the festival was on that day.

All the plans changed and soon I made the traditional kalanda sadam which is special for the occasion. The menu turned out to be semiya payasam, cabbage kootu, coconut rice, tamarind rice and appalam. Once all the cooking was done we offered some prayers to the Lord and then had our meal.

We went to the temple in the evening. My God!! The temple was so crowded. One one side Ayappan abishekam was taking place. On the other end prayers were being offered to Andal. We reached the temple on time to see all the artis. After that we took part in the Ayyappan poojai.

After the Ayyappan poojai they had full course of prasadam. We had sakkarai pongal, tamarind rice, lemon rice, aviyal and curd rice. The food had that divine taste one associates with temple food. Something is really extraordinary about the food temples serve. It has a special taste. Once we had our share of the prasadam we swapped places with the volunteers and started serving. There was a biiiiig line of devotees. When we thought the crowd had dwindled a fresh set of people appeared out of nowhere. It was just amazing about how many people turned up that day.

By the time we got back it was almost 9 p.m. It turned out to be a day well spent.

Tamil New Year

Yesterday we Tamilians celebrated the beginning of a new year. We got up a little early (considering that it was a Sunday). I made a sweet for the auspicious occasion. After a quick breakfast of fruits we headed to the temple. I was able to wear a salwar outside after a long time. The weather was becoming warm at last.

As soon as we turned into the driveway of the temple I was overwhelmed by the number of cars parked there. Luckily we found a parking spot. All the sannithis were closed after abhisekam when we entered the temple. We waited for about 15 - 20 minutes for the sannithis to get opened. In that short span of time the temple got so crowded with people that I thought soon we will have a queue like in Tirupathi.

The Lakshmi temple in Ashland is the only Hindu temple for the whole of New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts. So all Tamilians and Sri Lankan Tamils (since it happened to be their new year as well) had converged in this single temple. It's nice to catch a glimpse of so many of our country people in this distant land.

After our darshan we headed to a restaurant nearby for lunch. And what a sight met us... One man had come wearing veshti and shirt. I had seen a few people wearing veshti to the temple but this was the first time I saw someone in a hotel like that. By the time we finished our lunch the restaurant was also brimming with Indians. That reminded me that we have a large presence here.

Wish u all a very happy and prosperous new year :)

Karadayar Nombu

Today we observed Karadayar Nombu. For those who are not familiar with this - it is a puja done by married women for their husband (and unmarried women for their future husbands). We make a special type of food called nombu adai (and we need to make two varieties of it - sweet and salty one) which is generally made only for the nombu.

This was my first nombu away from home. Till last year my mother used to make it and I used to eat it happily. Since it's usually done only once a year we crave it a lot and the adais taste more delicious. So now here I was faced with the enormous task of making both types of adai. As u must have guessed I got a few pointers from my mom and m-i-l about what to do for the nombu.

To top the confusion I was told by a few people in US that the nombu was a day before. After much deliberation we decided to go ahead with the initial date itself. So we set the alarm and even tested it to see if it rang and went to sleep.

As fate would have it the alarm didn't ring in the morning. I woke up at only 7:30 instead of the scheduled 6:00. The catch was that everything had to be done by 8:30. Thankfully I had done some preparation last night. So there I was... Got up, had a quick shower and was there in the kitchen at lightning speed. I started my meticulous yet hurried preparation of the offering. Almost by luck I got the first batch done by 8:30... My deadline was met. Phew mission accomplished.

For those who are wondering if it turned out properly, the result is displayed now. I'd say it turned out to be pretty decent if not very good :) Better result next time...