Ganesha Chathurti!

.

We grew up reciting

'Gajananam bhoota Ganaadhi sevitham,
Kapiththa Jamboopala saara bhakshitam,
Umaasutham shokha vinaasha kaaranam
Namaami Vigneshwara paada pankajam'   from childhood.

Ganesha Chathurti festival means, at home, in my mother's place, is normal Ganesh pooja with many Ganesh shlokhas.  We, Mangaloreans don't keep painted Ganesha or clay Ganesha but pooja is done to the usual Ganesh vigraha! Amma used to make coconut and jaggery stuffed modaks out of maida or wheat flour, fried in oil.  The usual different types of fruits are kept in front of god.  Appa  used to do the pooja reciting a number of shlokas. 

But after marriage into a Tamil family, the celebration of this festival became entirely different! We have to draw rangoli in front of our doors which was not important in Mangalore/Udupi.

                                                            

Normal day rangoli/kolam

Festival day rangoli/kolam

                                                
We have to draw normal rangoli/kolam on normal days and padikkolam with red coloured border (Kaavi).  Normal days' kolam can be drawn with rangoli powder but on festival days it is maakkolam (rice soaked and ground with water, drawn with a small piece of cloth).  I learnt to draw this kolam very soon.  We lived with my sis in law for a few months to learn cooking (very slight difference from Mangalore cooking...use gingilly oil and groundnut/refined oil instead of coconut oil!) and the way to celebrate festivals in Tamil style. I was working then and so learnt some of the tough cooking slowly! One was the making of kozhukkattai/modak on Ganesh Chathurti! I was postponing to learn this and one day my husband said that his cousin had prepared kozhukkattai, the taste of which was still in his mouth! This woke me up from slumber/laziness.  I opened the book 'Samaiththuppaar' (cook & see) which was given to me by my friend maami .

Did the kozhukkattai and I never stopped from then on! Started doing all the sweet and savouries for all the festivals, thanks to the book!  Our Hindu festivals make us become active from our routine cooking.  God doesn't expect anything from us except whole-hearted prayers.  But in India, different regions celebrate our festivals in different styles.  Everything is interesting in their own way!

I had written about the way we celebrate Ganesh Chathurti is explained here.
My mother had ingrained in my brain that if we skip celebrating festivals once, we might be compelled to skip for the next 3 years, means, some death or something will happen in the family and we are barred from celebrating festivals the whole year! I know it is silly, but....

So, celebrate festivals happily and enjoy! The recipes might not come out easily in the first attempt, but you will improve in the years to come!

.

P.S. (Edited to add on Vinayaka Chathurti day, 5.9.16): I want to add this song of Seekaazhi Govindarajan, which is my favourite song on Ganesha till date! This is the first Tamil song we learnt after coming to Madras in 1962, without even knowing the language! I, my sister and brother used to sing this together...all of us were very small children then! Enjoy!

Happy Happy Holi!

For us, South Indians, holi festival is still new esp.for people who have never stayed outside their state in South India.  Until a few years back, we knew about holi only via books, TV, film songs etc.  We had seen some youngsters, esp. Hindi speaking people, roaming around with colours on their faces, hands and clothes.

I had the first taste of holi, when we were in Hosur.  Hosur is an industrial town (border town of Tamilnadu and Karnataka).  Many industries are there like Ashok Leyland, English Electricals, TVS and many many more.  People from all over India came for working in these companies and had their families in the (mostly) housing board colonies.  We too were like them. So, we had Maharashtrian, Gujarathi, Bengali friends, apart from people from Karanataka, Andhra, Kerala and Tamilnadu. My children too had classmates from different parts of India.  So, we became familiar with different customs and rituals.  Common language was Hindi and English.  I learnt to make Maharashtrian cuisine and Gujarathi cuisine! Am familiar with a few Bengali cuisine too.  We had a Bengali friend who invited us to Durga pooja (during Navarathri festival) prepared pooris fried in GHEE  and channa without onion/garlic! I still remember the taste.

A Maharashtrian friend used to keep a huge Ganesha in her house during Ganesh Chaturthi and their Maharashtrian friends used to come and do bhajan and aarthi in her house.  We used to join them and learnt to sing 'Ganpathi bappa moria' with them!

Learnt to make sweet pickle from a Gujarathi friend! In that way, we are lucky.  If we had stayed in Chennai, we wouldn't have known/or come in contact with so many cultures.  But on second thought, the times are changing and it is not like 20 years back.  Thanks to IT industry, we come across the whole of India in our neighbourhood in Chennai itself plus Japanese and Koreans who work in the automobile industries.  When we were children, after we shifted to Chennai from Udupi, my mother started celebrating Pongal at home, by making sweet pongal on the day of the festival! So, we gradually change according to the surroundings we have.

Well, now let me come back to holi festival.  I joined the holi celebration with my Maharashtrian friend's family.  I went to her house with my usual saree.  As soon as she opened the door, I was covered with colour powders....people were standing inside and throwing colours on me! I was a bit taken aback.  After a few minutes, I was normal and joined them!  Children also had joined.  When I came back home, walking on the road (it was a housing colony and very few people were playing holi there) and entered my house, my husband was shocked to see me full of different colours!  Everything was new to us.  I still remember the way I enjoyed playing like children, throwing colours at others.  Can't imagine doing so at our circle!

I forgot to tell one thing, we used to hear Amitabh singing the holi song at least
5-6 times in the radio, TV etc. on the day of the Holi and do so even now!





 And this song too!



Shahnaz Husain has given some handy tips to enjoy the festival without damaging one's skin and hair in today's 'The Hindu'(click here pl.) newspaper. It should be very useful.

Enjoy the colourful festival! 

Happy Holi!

Holi photo courtesy: Google

Our Hindu Rituals! Should We Change Some Now?

The Hindu ‏@the_hindu

Godess Durga idol being immersed amidst piled up garbage at Kalindi Kunj Ghat.

The above image is from The Hindu and the next one is from google. Painted Durga idols are immersed in water bodies after Durga Pooja in Bengal, Odisha etc.

 

I am not happy looking at the 'to be broken' or 'broken' idols of gods.  So much effort is down the drain. Yes, this is a ritual followed by many for the past many years.  But we are adding pollution to the river and our earth cannot take it anymore.  Population has increased...instead of one idol, hundreds of idols are being immersed.  We don't have many water bodies anymore! Clean water is becoming scarce.

'Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) senior scientist Dillip Behera said: “Metal compounds of elements such as lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel are largely found in artificial colours and if so many idols are immersed in the river, they may cause carcinogenic or cancer-causing toxicity in the water and affect people downstream.' (link)

Earlier vegetable colours and colours from stones were used to paint the idols.  But now, cheap paints are used. 

Same thing happens when we immerse Ganesha idols also.  At least, we, in Tamilnadu, use clay idols which blend with the water easily.  And when I was in Bangalore, I used to immerse our Ganesha idol in a bucket of water, leave it for a couple of days and throw the water in some corner of the compound.  I did the same in my previous house too though we had a well at home, since I worried about the clay's origin!

Clay idol at home! (link)

This way of disposing off idols is ideal I feel! In Bangalore, they had built a huge cement tank at Raagi Gudda temple, filled it with water. People stood in a long queue at night and immersed the idols there.  Many idols were clay idols! And many were painted with organic paints, I was told! People were 'placing' the idol inside the tank, not throwing them in the water, which I liked! After all Ganesha is our favourite god! Have a look:

Clay idol with organic colours, it seems.  Looks beautiful.

Tank for Ganesh visarjan. People stood calmly in line and immersed the idols here. All flowers and other things which adorned the idols were dropped in one place.  Just the idols were immersed here.

The crowd waiting for Ganesh visarjan, chanting Ganapathi Bappa Moriya and singing some bhajans.

People can drop the idols in the tank and go out via another gate.  One hundi was kept there.  People who are interested to help this scheme can drop money in it.  This is done by a group of people for the past few years, it seems. The debris is removed from the tank later.

Clay idols and immersion tank are ideal to celebrate these idol visarjans.  Nobody is hurt in this way. Let us all think about it!

.

Eid Mubaarak!

.

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 14/07/2015: Rumani Semiya, a Ramzan speciality made of maida, being prepared at a household in Royapettah in Chennai. The finished product is sold on the streets of Triplicane. Photo: R. Ragu

When I read this link in 'The Hindu', I remembered my friend Mrs. R. She and her family were very good friend of ours.  She used to give us their Ramzaan paayasam (a sweet dish made with semiya, milk and sugar) every year.  It is made out of very very thin Semiya (vermicelli).  She had to be very careful while roasting it in ghee, since it tends to burn easily.  Once when she added milk to the Semiya, it curdled.  If it happened like that on a Ramzaan day,  it is not a good omen it seems.  Her husband was a very very short tempered person, so she came running to my house, which was just opposite to hers.  A fresh semiya packet was brought home by our maid, behind her, who worked for both the houses.  Her husband was sitting in the veranda, reading a newspaper! She was sweating like anything.  Then she told the story and asked me to make the paayasam at our home, because she was nervous to do it again.  She stayed for sometime and went back.  I roasted the semiya slowly and carefully.  I was also nervous to do such an important dish for them. Thank god, it came out well.  I had kept it ready in a thookku, a long vessel with a handle like it is in a basket.  When her husband went inside, she came across and took the vessel. So, that year's Ramzaan was celebrated in their house with our (Hindu) paayasam!

Now, to the interesting, newspaper article.  As per the article, vermicelli/semiya making for Ramzaan is very important to them.  Let me quote some interesting lines from the article:

In a tiny flat in the bowels of Royapettah, (Chennai, Tamilnadu), Mushtaba’s family is carrying out a 200-year-old tradition. Seated on the floor, she kneads the maida dough, calling out instructions to her husband Barkath Ali. 

Making the rumani semiya is a back-breaking task and yet, families look forward to it. “It’s been the same routine as long as I can remember,” says Mushtaba, punching a medium-sized ball of dough. “I would knead three to five kilograms of maida with water and salt the previous night and wake up early in the morning to prepare the semiya.”

The fine vermicelli is made entirely by hand. It’s a fascinating process. Mushtaba pinches bits of dough from a clump in her hand, sticks it back and repeats till the mass is almost elastic. She then pulls it apart, holding the length with both hands, folding it in and out, in and out, till she achieves 12 uniform strips. She entwines them and pulls it like a rubber band — in less than 30 seconds, following a series of elastic tugs, the fine, hair-thin vermicelli emerge, which she drapes on a wooden rod that her husband hangs out to dry under a fan. In a few minutes, he rolls it on his palm and places it on a cot to dry further. The vermicelli can be made with rava as well, but even the most experienced makers of rumani semiya tend to falter if rava is mixed to the dough.

 The wife says, " The consistency of the dough is everything, so is the temperament of the person handling it. “If one is angry, for instance, and sits to make it, the semiya will never come out well. I’ve thrown sway several kilos of dough when they didn’t cooperate"

Mushtaba earns around Rs.20,000 every year from the business. “I use it to buy something for the kids for Ramzan,” she smiles. “Shoes, clothes… It feels nice to buy whatever they ask for.”

It tastes very good!

Happy Ramzaan to my friends who celebrate the festival!

WISHING ALL, A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL DEEPAWALI!

 

I AND MY FAMILY WISH YOU ALL

A VERY VERY

HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, SAFE AND POLLUTIONLESS

DEEPAWALI!

LET US ALL PRAY FOR A PEACEFUL FUTURE TO ALL OF US!

. 

Lord Ganesha Temple Car In Our Street!

.

Gajaananam Bhoota, Ganaadhi Sevitam,

Kapiththa Jumbhoo Phala Saara Bhakshitam,

Umaa Sutam Shokha Vinaasha Kaaranam,

Namaami Vighneshwara Paada Pankajam!

I did a post on Ganesh Chathurti a couple of years back (link). Today is Ganesh Chathurti. As I told you in the earlier post, we live in the outskirts of Chennai and the Ganesh temple here still celebrates Chathurti like it is celebrated in villages and small towns. The utsav moorthy (the small Ganesh Vigraha which is a small replica of the original deity) is kept in the decorated temple car (rath) and taken like a procession through the nearby streets. The car stops in front of the houses, who wish it to stop there and we do archana to the god on the road itself. Normally, the procession starts at 7 pm and ends by 10 pm. We draw fresh rangoli in front of the house in the evening and wait outside when the car enters our street. Our temple people decorate the car beautifully and artistically, every year. Now, to the pictures of the car:

This is the beautiful teak wood rath (temple car), before the flower decoration! I took this picture today evening.

We are waiting for Ganesha's visit in front of our house along with the cows! These cows sleep in front of our house every night and leave in the morning! If my husband comes home late, he has to shoo off these animals first for the car to enter the house! It is fun to watch!

More cows joined us for the Lord's darshan! You can see the rath in the distance!

This is the beautifully decorated Ganesha in the rath!

Hope you enjoyed having the darshan of Lord Ganesha! After posting the picture of the cows, I thought I will add one interesting video of our intelligent Indian Cow (thank you, Partha Sir, for the video!) Here, it is! Enjoy!

Reposting this again today (9.9.13) I miss these things.  We have left the old house now where this temple car was coming to our door.  We are in a flat, two stories above.  This is one of the things I miss most.

Jai Ganesha!

Gokulaashtamiya Shubhaashayagalu! Janmaashtami Ki Shubhkaamnaayein! Krishna Nee Begane Baaro...

.

I used to hear Smt.M.S. Subbulakshmi singing my favourite song, 'Krishna nee begane baaro', a Kannada Krithi on Lord Krishna, by Purandara Dasa,  since I was small.  We used to go to concerts and hear her singing in person.

Then I heard an American, John Higgins, singing the same song in radio!  It used to come everyday in a Bangalore station and Madras station! We got used to his voice too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on_rGmEWxHE

Then I got hold of a cassette, 'Radha Maadhavam', in which Bombay Jayashree sang this song.  I loved all the songs in this album.  She has got a beautiful voice.  I used to play this everyday after my doze of 'Sangeeth Saritha' in Vividh Bharati!  Hear this now and enjoy!



Then came the 'Colonial cousins'! I noticed even small children humming this version.  It is good!




Today is Lord Krishna's birthday...Our Wikipedia gives all the details of Lord Krishna's birthday! Have a look!

He, who has let go of hatred, 

Who treats all beings with kindness and compassion,

Who is always serene,

Unmoved by pain or pleasure,

Free of the 'I' and 'Mine',

Self-controlled, firm and patient,

His whole mind focussed on me...

That is the man I love best.

(The Bhagavadh Geeta)

JANMAASHTAMIYA SHUBHAASHAYAGALU!

LET OUR KRISHNA BLESS US WITH PEACE AND HAPPINESS!

KRISHNA NEE BEGANE BAARO...KRISHNA, COME SOON TO SAVE US IN ANY FORM!

Iniya Tamizh Puththaandu Nalvaazhththukkal! Ugaadi Habbada Shubhaashayagalu!

.

 

.Happy Tamizh New Year! 

Happy Ugaadi! 

Vishu Aashamsagal!

Happy Baisaakhi! 

Shubho Nobo Borsha!

To all my friends and relatives, here! 

God bless us all!

Sandhya

Pongal Festival At Home!

.

We celebrated Pongal festival at home this morning! This is a very important festival celebrated throughout India in different names in different states.  Pongal in Tamilnadu, Makar Shankraanti in Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra, UP, MP, Goa etc. Uttarayana in Gujarat and Rajastan, Lohri in Punjab.  This is basically, a 'Harvest Festival'  Our country is  mainly a farming country.  So this festival gives importance to the 'Sun god' who helps the farmers for their cultivation. This festival comes in the month of Jan. (around 14/15th and in the Tamil month, 'thai'). The previous day is called 'Bhogi', when we clean the house and destroy all the old and unwanted things.  The next day to Pongal, is Maattu pongal, which is like thanksgiving for the cattle which helped them in farming...Maattu pongal is celebrated in a grand way in villages. Read more about Pongal in the wikipedia link here .

At home, we clean the house for 'Bhogi'.  The sweet for the day is 'pooran poli'.  The next day is Pongal.  We draw beautiful ronglis/kolams in front of our house in the morning (You can see them in the wikipedia link!).  We hang a bunch of mango leaves on the door step to indicate that we have a festival/celebration at home.  We cook Sweet pongal (Raw rice, moong dhal and jaggery combination dish), Ven pongal (same rice and moong dhal with salt, pepper etc.), Yezhu curry koottu (koottu is  a typical Tamilian dish prepared with coconut, dhania, chilli, hing etc. alongwith minimum 7 vegetables like root veg. (Potato, yam, sweet potato), veg. from creepers (avarai kaai - val beans and its seed, pumpkin - red and white),  veg. from plants like beans and raw banana. We make black gram vada also.  Curd rice as usual.

We cook the sweet pongal in a brass vessel which is visible in the photo.  Then tie the vessel with ginger and turmeric plants  and take it outside  to our backyard near the tulsi plant. We draw a small kolam of sun god (one circle surrounded by small small lines!) and place the vessel on it.  Then we do a small pooja and offer the sweet to the Sun god (in our earlier houses we were doing this in our balcony).  Then bring the vessel inside and keep it in front of the gods and do the normal pooja.  We have to decorate the pooja room with sugar cane like you see in the picture. Sugar cane is a a must for this festival. Then...'pet pooja' means eat them!

We do the pooja near the steps in front of the Tulsi plant, placing the vessel facing east!

Turmeric and ginger plant...these are very important for this festival!

The next day to Pongal is Kaanum pongal...i.e. visiting relatives, mainly visiting mother's place or go out and enjoy! In our house my sis in law and other relatives come home. This festival is celebrated by the women/girls of the house for the well being of their brothers.  In the morning we keep coloured rice balls which are made from the left over sweet pongal and curd rice. We add some haldi and kumkum to a portion of the curd rice.  We keep these balls in 3 to 5 lines on turmeric leaves along with beetel leaves, nuts, banana and a sugar cane piece.  We do this mostly on the terrace.  We do a small pooja and offer them to the gods and pray for the well being of our siblings, mainly brothers!  Have a spoon of the previous day's sweet pongal and take head bath after this small ceremony.

For lunch we make different types of mixed rice like pulianjaatham (tamarind rice or lemon rice), coconut rice, ellu saadam (til rice), karuveppilai saadam (curry leaves rice), curd rice etc.  We make the pastes for all these rice before hand and just mix them on that day.  More kuzhambu with White pumpkin to mix with the mixed rice. Vada and paayasam will be there.  Eat and then we mostly play cards.  We used to have many members in our family earlier.  Now the children have grown up and got married and have gone out. Slowly our family is getting smaller and smaller! We, nearly 12 to 15 people, used to sit in a BIG round and play cards till night! Those days are gone! We used to have the sugar-cane eating session after lunch...now except for a small piece, others go to the servants!

Next year's pongal will be in our new flat...pongal will be offered to the sun god in our new balcony!

Happy Pongal to all!


Edited to add on 16.1.13:

Kaanum Pongal...comes on the next day to Pongal

I have written about Kaanum pongal above.  This is the picture of the small ceremony which we did yesterday morning!

The crows which come home to eat my curd rice (link) never eat this coloured rice with haldi, kumkum etc.!

SHUBH DEEPAWALI! HAPPY DEEPAWALI!

.

Diwali night in India....Picture captured from NASA

MY FAMILY AND I WISH YOU ALL

A VERY VERY

HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, SAFE AND POLLUTIONLESS

DEEPAWALI!

LET US ALL PRAY FOR A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL FUTURE TO ALL OF US!

GOD BLESS US ALL!

Picture coutesy: Google

Shopping For Deepawali, Is An EXPERIENCE In Chennai, Usmaan Road!

This post is Women's special!

Ranganathan street, T.nagar, off Usmaan road, where things can be bought at very cheap rates!  

Deepawali shopping had started a couple of weeks back and the above picture is the scene in Ranganathan Street, off Usman Road, in T.Nagar, Chennai! The new lot of sarees are displayed from Mahalaya Amaavaasai before Deepawali in all the shops in T.Nagar.  Here, in Tamil Nadu, Amaavaasai (New moon day)is an auspicious day to start anything good. Next day is called 'kari naal' and it is a bad day to start anything.  The shops are filled with new sarees from Amaavaasai. We should not go to the shops looking for good sarees a few days before and a couple of weeks after Deepawali!  You will be disappointed!

Usman Road, T.Nagar

Deepawali is on 13th November, this year.  Next weekend will be the peak days for saree and dresses for Deepawali sales! We can never go near the counter to have a good look at the sarees! Kumaran Silks and Nalli Silks are the oldest saree shops and they have got steady customers who buy from them for generations.

This is one of the oldest shops in T.Nagar.  This picture was not taken during Deepawali time!

Later on came Saravana Stores, Jayachandran Stores etc., where you can see crowds 365 days a year.  They are famous for selling spoons to sarees and furniture at subsidised rates! Pothy's also is always crowded! Chennai Silks is advertised a lot but the crowds mostly go to Saravana and Pothy's!  The traffic is diverted from 2 weeks prior to Deepawali in Usmaan Road! Even autos will not have space to move in the crowd! We can see cops mingling with the crowd to keep an eye on pick pocketers!

Sundari Silks is in North Usmaan Road (All other shops are mostly in South Usmaan Road).  This area is a bit away from the other famous shops and so a bit peaceful area for shopping.  They have got car parking area which is a big plus point.  Kumaran and Nalli Silks also have got car parking area, but Saravana Store and one more shop, Rmkv, haven't got car parking area.  I don't know how the govt. allowed the huge multi storied stores to do business in this crowded area! It must be money, as usual!

Normal day shopping in Usmaan Road!

Many of my family members shop from Kumaran silks mostly and we do it before the huge crowd starts coming to this area.  Now, Sundari Silks is becoming famous for their quality sarees - exclusive sarees. Only in this shop, we can sit on stools and select sarees! So, naturally, the sarees are a bit expensive, exclusive sarees, you know! Our family mostly go together 2-3 times for shopping...we exchange sarees if we don't like them. Some shops have got space with sunlight, to check the colour of the sarees.  The colour looks different when we see them at home.  We need sunlight to match the sarees and blouses too! Many  air conditioned shops don't provide space with sunlight.

Some shops provide chairs for the old and male customers to sit and wait with children while the women members shop for their sarees.  Some shops don't have them and I heard comments about some people avoiding those shops! It is not easy for men and children to wait for hours, standing.

Most of the shops have got salesmen who had been with them for many years and they judge the customers well and show sarees.  They work in shifts a few days prior to Deepawali.  On weekends - next two week ends - the shops will be open from 6 am itself, I was told and sell upto midnight! The salesmen are given bonus and a couple of days leave after Deepawali.  Some shops never close!

The interiors of most of the shops are beautiful, esp. rmkv.  Nalli is still maintaining the old look, which is nice.

Tulsi Silks in Alwarpet and Radha Silk Emporium in Mylapore are our favourite shops outside Usmaan Road shops. They too sell exclusive sarees without much difference in rates.

We, in my mother's place don't give much importance to Deepawali (Janmaashtami is important for us - Kannadigas).  My relatives don't buy new dresses for this festival.  But in Tamilnadu, wearing new dress is very important on Deepawali day after the traditional oil bath in the morning. Last year we had started our trip to Munnar on the Deepawali afternoon.  I saw everyone  on the road, even in small villages, wearing new dresses and all of them had the happy look on their faces, esp.  the children! My father used to save money in R.D. every month for using for Deepawali purchases for all of us (we had been following Tamilnadu customs after we shifted to Chennai from Udupi!)! It might not have been easy for a middle class family man to spend a chunk of the savings at one time.  But the fathers would do anything to see happiness in their children's faces (We were 5 children!)! We still remember those days when we wore new clothes and went to our relatives' houses to do namaskaar to the elders and collect money! What is your shopping experience in your area?!

Happy Deepawali to all my friends here!


P.S. (30.10.12):  The only draw back in T.Nagar shopping is most of the shops don't have clean toilets.  People come to these shops, esp. for wedding sarees, from far off places and shop the whole day.  They come in groups.  Last week we had been to Kumaran Silks and were waiting for the lift at the ground floor.  The stench from the toilets nearby was sickening.

The quality of food at the Woodlands hotel has deteriorated.  Saravana Bhavan is good, but is always crowded.  One more hotel named BKR, which is a good and neat hotel has come up opposite old GRT in South Usmaan Road. They have got car parking facility too! This is our favourite place for lunch nowadays! One more plus point is, the toilets are clean here!


Picture courtesy: The Hindu and google!

Be Happy Always!

.




This song, based on raag Ananda Bhairavi, was composed by music director A.R. Rahman.  He won the National Best Music director Award, Tamil Nadu State Award and Filmfare award for the songs in this movie, 'Minsara Kanavu' (Tamil). It was directed by Rajeev Menon.  Vairamuthu was the lyricist. Kajol,  Prabhu Deva and Arvind Swamy were the main actors.

I love this song by Anuradha Sriram, for the softness in her voice and the soulful melody of Rahman.  The orchestra is with very less instruments. The picturization also blends with the softness of the song.  And Kajol's eyes...expression in her face...great! Kannada actor Shankar Nag's wife, Arundhati Nag acted like a typical, devoted nun, here.

Hindi version of the song is equally good.  Anuradha herself has sung this song and lyrics by Javed Akhtar:





They always say when they mention about Christmas, 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Christmas'.  I like it very much.  I noticed that everybody whether they are Hindus or others, wholeheartedly greet everybody with this greeting, here, in our blogosphere too! Let me also join in!

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

LET US ALL BE HAPPY & LIVE IN PEACE!

I AND MY FAMILY WISH YOU ALL

A VERY VERY

HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, SAFE AND POLLUTIONLESS

DEEPAAWALI!

LET US ALL PRAY FOR A PEACEFUL FUTURE TO ALL OF US!

Wish You All A Very Happy Navaraathri!

.
Navaraathri & Vijayadashami wishes to all my readers here! Let the Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati bless all of us with wisdom, wealth and vidhya!

This song on Goddess Saraswati is a beautiful composition by the famous music director, Jaidev for film, 'Alaap'. The singers are Latha, Yesudoss and others. You will have goose bumps like I have, when you hear this song, I am sure! When you start hearing the sound of the flute itself, you will know, then comes santoor, veena etc.! Latha starts singing after which there is a small pause and then Yesudoss, Latha and others start singing!





Mata Saraswati Sharda
Mata Saraswati Sharda
Hey, Mata Saraswati Sharda

Vidyadani Dayani Dukh-harini
Jagat Janani Jwalamukhi Mata
Saraswati Sharda
Hey Mata Saraswati Sharda

Vidyadani Dayani Dukh-harini
Jagat Janani Jwalamukhi Mata
Saraswati Sharda
Hey Mata Saraswati Sharda

Keeje Sudrishti - 2
Sewak Jaan Apna
Itna Vardaan Dije
Taan Taan Aur Alaap Budhdhi Alankaar
Shaarda
Hey Mata Saraswati Sharda

Vidyadani Dayani Dukh-harini
Jagat Janani Jwalamukhi Mata
Saraswati Sharda
Hey Mata Saraswati Sharda
Hey Mata Saraswati Sharda

(lyrics link)


This song is sung and directed by the famous music director, Ilayaraja on Devi Mookaambika (Goddess Durga)...soulful rendition. This is one of my favourite song by the Maestro! The first few lines in Sanskrit are from Soundarya lahari shloka. The raaga seems to be Kalyaani. The above song also sounds in the same raaga, any idea? Raag Yaman?

Ilayaraja is a great devotee of Devi Mookambika and today morning I heard one more song which started with 'Amma Janani' which was also very good. I couldn't get it from our You Tube! Now, hear this beautiful song:





Shivah shakthya yukto yadi bhavati shaktah prabhavitum
Na chedevam devo na khalu kushalah spanditumapi;
Atas tvaam aaradhyaam Hari-Hara-Virinchadibhirapi
Pranantum stotum vaa katham akrta-punyah prabhati

janani janani jagam nee agam nee

janani janani jagam nee agam nee
jagat kaarani nee paripoorani nee
jagat kaarani nee paripoorani nee

oru maan maruvum siru poondhiraiyum
sadai vaar kuzhalum idai vaaganamum
konda naayaganin kulir dhaegaththilae
ninra naayagiyae ida vaagaththilae
jagan moahini nee simma vaahini nee (2)

(janani)

chathur vaedhangalum panja boodhangalum
shan maarggangalum saptha theerththangalum
ashta yoagangalum nava yaagangalum
thozhum poongadalae malai maamagalae
alai maamagalae kalai maamagalae (2)

(janani)

svarna raegaiyudan svayamaagi vandha
linga roopiniyae mookambigaiyae
pala thoaththirangal dharma saaththirangal
panindhae thuvazhum mani naeththirangal
sakthi peedamum nee sarva moatchamum nee (3)

(janani)


This song on Goddess Lakshmi is by Pt.Bheemsen Joshi! I had already did a post on Pandit Joshi and included this song and repeating it again, here! Please click on Pandit Joshi and hear the beautiful song, 'Bhaagyada Lakshmi Baaramma' in his booming voice!

Shubh Navaraathri!

The Blue Mug...Down Memory Lane!

.

Today morning when I opened my blog, I saw on the right side of the page, under 'Popular Post', a series of posts, mostly about temples, festivals etc.! It was funny. It looked as if I am very religious and write about only temples and rituals/festivals! No, I am not very religious but follow some minimum customs, give importance to festivals, play shlokas in the morning etc. I believe in god/or some super power and strongly believe that if we hurt somebody knowingly, in any way, we will get it back twice. Otherwise, as my nieces often say, I am a 'modern maami'! They treat me as their friend...they are young girls, you know! I am so happy about it!

My son asked me, the other day, if I was interested in attending a play (drama, we call it, here!), The Blue Mug...a play by a Bombay director, Atul Kumar and the actors sounded familiar too. I always wanted to see Hindi/English plays by Bombay productions (now, many of them are coming here, to Chennai too!). I said 'yes' to my son, happily! Then he said it was on Sunday, the Janmaashtami day...! Phooof, my happy bubble burst, 'tuppp'! Then he said it started at 7.30 pm...the bubble of hope began to bloat again! Then I said I will do the pooja as early as possible and we can rush to the theatre! My son and husband started laughing...so much love and respect for Lord Krishna! My sister in law doesn't know even now, in what way I did the pooja...poor Krishna! It was jet speed! I got up early in the morning, did murukku (chakli), Uppu cheedai, vella cheedai etc., drew rangloli with a long line of Krishna's feet from the gate to the pooja room, without talking to anybody! And we made it to the theatre 'on time'!

The venue was an auditorium of Lady Andal school, which is a very old school, in a spacious area, with a beautiful, huge banyan tree (the picture is displayed at the end). I hadn't read any review of the play before. Then it started. One by one, the characters started narrating their childhood, adolescent memories, with slightly dim light focusing on them.

The main story had Ranvir Shorey as an amnesia patient being treated/questioned by his doctor, Shirpa Singh! Ranvir remembers only until he was 20 years old, about what happened at his home in Punjab with his brother, father etc. during the terrorist attack period. The doctor asks him to look at the mirror, which he reluctantly does and shouts that what was visible there was his father, not him. He refuses to come to terms with the present times. He even forgets to recognise the doctor after his narration was over! The language was Hindi with heavy Punjabi accent, but his narration was superb. Though, it was difficult for us to follow the fast Punjabi Hindi, we laughed for whatever we understood! Except Shirpa Singh, I am familiar with others from TV serials and films. The other characters spoke in Hinglish, thank god! Vinay Patakh's (Beja Fry fame) adolescent narration was superb, he is a good actor, we know! Rajath Kapoor had done a good job and made us laugh a lot. I admired Sheeba Chadha who narrated how she dreamed of drinking milk from a bottle with a rubber nipple and tried it too in her teenage...it was a laugh riot in the theatre! I had seen her in a TV serial 'Antaraal' with Om Puri in the main role. It was a very good serial, but was stopped abruptly. I still remember the story!

Does anyone else remember?

All the artists did well in their role, but still, for us, something was missing. The quality was there, no doubt about it. No stage decoration, just focusing lights. The characters were not connected to each other till the end.

In the end, the cast and audience interaction was there in front of the auditorium. The artists looked very tired and interesting questions were not asked by anyone, so it was sort of boring. But, somehow, we enjoyed the evening and laughed a lot!

I forgot to mention one interesting thing...3 or 4 best songs of Hemant Kumar were played in the beginning and I was very very happy about it. I love his voice. And one of his song, Zindagi Pyar ki do char ghadi hoti hai' which was very apt for the 'down memory lane' story theme, was played in between, during the play as sort of background music!

We took this picture during the 'interaction between audience and artists' time. They said that the story is based on a novel called, 'The man who mistook his wife for a hat' (funny title, isn't it?!).

Now, have a look at the beautiful banyan tree at the auditorium:

Edited in the evening: Just shifted the first half of the sentence to the second half and the meaning looks better!

.

Janmaashtamiya Haardika Shubhaashayagalu! Happy Janmaashtami and Krishna Jayanthi to all of you, friends!

.

Yashoda and Balakrishna

I was playing this song of Smt.M.S.Subbulakshmi today morning. She is so expressive and enjoys singing! I had been hearing her songs from my childhood. During Navrathri and December season, we used to attend all the concerts with all my cousins. They were free concerts mostly. They used to be held in huge playgrounds or open grounds. If the concert started at 6.30 pm, the whole ground used to be full by 6 pm! We used to go at 5 pm itself to reserve the front place...no chairs, just plain ground with sand! I still remember MS singing with the jasmine flower string on her hair...if we watched from far away, we could see the flower moving up and down, that is all! Vikku Vinayakram (Ghatam), was a young man and mostly accompanied her wherever she sang. Her daughter Radha Vishwanathan was a small girl in those days! I am talking about my school days (late '60s!). MS, MLV (Smt. ML Vasantha kumari) and Smt. DK Pattammal were the famous trio of those days! People didn't have anyother diversion like the present TV serials, so the carnatic music concerts were attended by all people.

Now, to my favourite song:

.

Hope you enjoyed the song!

Picture courtesy: here.

.

WISHING ALL, A HAPPY DEEPAWALI!

I AND MY FAMILY WISH YOU ALL

A VERY VERY

HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, SAFE AND POLLUTIONLESS

DEEPAWALI!

LET US ALL PRAY FOR A PEACEFUL FUTURE TO ALL OF US!

Janmaashtamiya Shubhaashayagalu!

Udupi Krishna

Today is Krishna Jayanthi... this festival is celebrated in a grand way all over India. I come from Udupi, which is famous for Lord Krishna's temple. And for us, Gokulashtami is the most important festival and is celebrated in each and every household, in a small or big way but with true 'bhakti'.

When I was looking for an image of Udupi Krishna, I came across this blog of K.Bharath , who has written a post about Udupi Krishna temple beautifully and in detail. Here, I am not going to write about the temple, but how we Udupi people celebrated Gokulashtami, when I was small!

The above photograph is of Udupi Krishna with all the decorations and the one I have displayed below is the one without much decoration! The vigraha is small but beautiful!




Now, let me write about the festival. When I was small, we lived in my grandfather's house, in Udupi. That house was quite big and looked similar to Kerala houses...with a garden for flowers, one had banana trees, one had badam, mango, jack fruit trees etc. We had a Swamy room, which we called 'padsaale' in Tulu language, which we spoke at home.

On the festival day, all the elders followed vrath...some of them used to have only liquid food, some used to take chapaathis with some curry (no onion or garlic were used in my grandma's place!). Some took only moong dhaal paayasam, made out of dhaal, jaggery and coconut milk or milk. The women of the house used to cook, cook and cook with near empty stomach! Did 8 types of laddus (Moong dhaal flour, Besan, Bengal gram dhaal, wheat flour, suji, peanut, til, rice flakes etc.) along with Chakkuli (murukku in Tamil), thatte and some more savories! Avalakki Pancha Kajjaaya (rice flakes with coconut, jaggery, til, banana etc.), one paayasam for naivedya. These things were placed in front of the decorated pooja area with Krishna's favourite butter, non-boiled milk, curd etc..

My mama used to do the elaborate pooja. Mostly, the important ritual of giving 'arghya'... (pouring theertha water via bilwa pathre on the Krishna vigraha) is done at midnight, this time my cousins did at 11.50p.m., it seems.

Later Tulsi pooja was done by giving 'arghya' with cow's milk. Every Kannada household will have a Tulsi katte (Tulsi pot) and we draw rangole (rangoli with rice flour) and light diya in the morning. In the evening, again we light diyas and do pradakshina, singing prayer songs. My grandmother taught us many songs while doing pradakshina, when we, children were small! Once the pooja was over, all of us used to sing Purandara daasara keerthane...songs which are on Lord Krishna.

After the pooja, the elders used to have only the naivedya prasadam with some fruits. The next day we will have 'kadubu' (tumbler shaped idlies!) for breakfast!

Nowadays, my relatives who live in the cities, are not able to follow these rituals but have simplified for the current age! Everyone has to go to office and children to schools, the next morning, so the pooja is finished early...the number of items for naivedya is minimised.

I did Vella cheedai (rice flour, urad gram flour with jaggery), Uppu cheedai (rice flour, urad gram flour and salt), ribbon pakkoda (all fried things!), with paayasam and aval panchakajjaaya (rice flakes with jaggery) in typical Tamil style! We are supposed to do appam, vadai etc. but no one is interested at home to eat so many things, nowadays, so minimal items are offered to god now!

Now let us hear some nice songs...this one is sung by Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi, the famour Carnatic classical singer...a very old video. Her voice is so powerful!



Chitra sings 'Krishna nee begane baaro' in her melodious voice...feels like hearing a lullaby!




My favourite Kishori Amonkar sings 'He mero Manmohana'. Her voice is so soft and beautiful!





Images and links: Thank you Bharath and Deponti