Every dawn marks a new beginning.
Every dawn, a celebration.
Each day, unique in the magic it holds for change and growth.
A bow to nature's lavish colours, a palette of a million rich shades that are used with such elan, no two displays are similar.
A green meadow dotted with a hundred shades of bright yellow-orange,colours so special you'd have to invent names for.
A deep pool in blatant azure, red blooms line the edge,
a designer couldn't have done any better.
With a display in deep browns and oranges, a desert dazzles,
an instant feast for the eyes.
A waterfall dances and skips, a sonata in lush jade,
as it carves a path to the sea.
No man made feature this,
a perfectly formed arch by a white shore.
A symphony in white and gold, mountains clothed in show for the season.
Each day, unique,
Each day, a feast of colours.
And wrapped up in endless possiblity.
Such is the salutation to te Dawn.
Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and ralities of your existence:
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of achievement,
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is just a vision,
And today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Karthigai deepam and colourful memories
I had my childhood in a small but beautiful village called Sengalipuram near Kumbakonam. It was a joint family with more than dozen members including the mischievous lot of four, me, my younger sister, and two cousins.
Every house in the street would have min of four school or college going children. So, it would be a great fun in the morning to look at us going to school coz it would be seem as though it was a mobile school. Unknowing the corollary of laughter (read as laughter therapy), we used to guffaw even for the most "kadi" joke. And most of the time we would be busy finding out who had got what for lunch. Guess! most of us would bring curd rice and the pickle alone would be different. Rarely some of our friends would bring some variety rice and in no time on the way to school we would finish that!!!!!!!!!!! And during the festival seasons we used to take sweets and savouries and eat them on the way to school. So, going to school means " sevikku unavu illadha bothu vayitrukku eeyappadum" kinda experience for us.
Of all the festivals Karthigai Deepam is close to my heart. Of course i do like diwali and pongal (especially that is very famous in villages). But, somehow Deepam takes the first place in my heart. Coz, it is three day long festival. First day, "Chinna Karthi". Just few earthenware lamps. Second day is "Periya Karthi or Big Karthigai deepam". All the earthenware lamps from the attic would be cleaned. As a custom a dozen or two new lamps would be bought. The brassware big ornamental lamps like " Aanai vilakku, paavai vilakku, sara vilakku, kai vilakku, ambari vilakku, kuthu vilakku, malayala vilakku" etc would be cleaned by tamarind and brick powder and would sport blemishless look. After that all the lamps would get nice dots of sandalwood paste and vermilion powder. A glittering array of lamps would be kept on every house's "thinnai". And guess, what we would do! We, even much after the protest from our grandma and great grandma would hold the oil can run around to refill the lamps! Funny times!!!!!
Epitome of this karthigai deepam is the "chokka paanai". I think this is a local ritual in the villages of then Tanjore Jilla. Every temple in the village would arrange for this "chokka paanai". Hearsay is that this "chokka paanai" ritual is associated with King Mahabali. A middle sized tower kinda structure would be raised using straw and other stuff. After lighting deepam in the respective temples, the pujari would light the chokka paanai. All men in the village would hold a torch with vegetable tallow and would get that ignited by the chokka paanai fire.
The point here is, they have to run fast and light the main vilakku at home. We used to stand at the end of the small street leading to temple and referee who comes first. It would be of a great fun to find my father, uncle, why even grandpa trying to come first. If anyone of our family members comes first means, next day on the way to school ur the heroine!!!!!!!!!! This reminded me of the nice film "pasanga" in tamil. coz, we used to persuade men in our family to run fast and come first.
After this chokka paanai galatta, deepam poojai would be done at home. At the end of the poojai, "naivedhyam". Pori urundai, adai, paruppu payasam are the standard items in our circle. Eating crisp pori urundai almost around 9 PM was a jollity. With so many friends around, eating that too without fussing was indeed a pleasure. Evergreen memories twinkle in my eyes!!!!!!!!!!!
Every house in the street would have min of four school or college going children. So, it would be a great fun in the morning to look at us going to school coz it would be seem as though it was a mobile school. Unknowing the corollary of laughter (read as laughter therapy), we used to guffaw even for the most "kadi" joke. And most of the time we would be busy finding out who had got what for lunch. Guess! most of us would bring curd rice and the pickle alone would be different. Rarely some of our friends would bring some variety rice and in no time on the way to school we would finish that!!!!!!!!!!! And during the festival seasons we used to take sweets and savouries and eat them on the way to school. So, going to school means " sevikku unavu illadha bothu vayitrukku eeyappadum" kinda experience for us.
Of all the festivals Karthigai Deepam is close to my heart. Of course i do like diwali and pongal (especially that is very famous in villages). But, somehow Deepam takes the first place in my heart. Coz, it is three day long festival. First day, "Chinna Karthi". Just few earthenware lamps. Second day is "Periya Karthi or Big Karthigai deepam". All the earthenware lamps from the attic would be cleaned. As a custom a dozen or two new lamps would be bought. The brassware big ornamental lamps like " Aanai vilakku, paavai vilakku, sara vilakku, kai vilakku, ambari vilakku, kuthu vilakku, malayala vilakku" etc would be cleaned by tamarind and brick powder and would sport blemishless look. After that all the lamps would get nice dots of sandalwood paste and vermilion powder. A glittering array of lamps would be kept on every house's "thinnai". And guess, what we would do! We, even much after the protest from our grandma and great grandma would hold the oil can run around to refill the lamps! Funny times!!!!!
Epitome of this karthigai deepam is the "chokka paanai". I think this is a local ritual in the villages of then Tanjore Jilla. Every temple in the village would arrange for this "chokka paanai". Hearsay is that this "chokka paanai" ritual is associated with King Mahabali. A middle sized tower kinda structure would be raised using straw and other stuff. After lighting deepam in the respective temples, the pujari would light the chokka paanai. All men in the village would hold a torch with vegetable tallow and would get that ignited by the chokka paanai fire.
The point here is, they have to run fast and light the main vilakku at home. We used to stand at the end of the small street leading to temple and referee who comes first. It would be of a great fun to find my father, uncle, why even grandpa trying to come first. If anyone of our family members comes first means, next day on the way to school ur the heroine!!!!!!!!!! This reminded me of the nice film "pasanga" in tamil. coz, we used to persuade men in our family to run fast and come first.
After this chokka paanai galatta, deepam poojai would be done at home. At the end of the poojai, "naivedhyam". Pori urundai, adai, paruppu payasam are the standard items in our circle. Eating crisp pori urundai almost around 9 PM was a jollity. With so many friends around, eating that too without fussing was indeed a pleasure. Evergreen memories twinkle in my eyes!!!!!!!!!!!
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