Golu ....The word itself reminds me of Sundal, Songs ,dolls & temple visits..
Being the rebellious girlie , GOLU is one of the few traditional customary practice that i enjoy or would like to follow as GOLU makes me HAPPY !!!
My Phone received a lot of SMS invitations for GOLU visits while i managed to do only 2 visits .Both the visits made so glad and it was a fun filled experience...
The First one being a visit to a dear colleague and second one to my best buddy ...
Let me talk about the first one ...
Firstly , i became this little girl who was so excited as i was visiting the Finance Minister's House for GOLU :-P ....We were a bunch of young gals (let's forget that am a woman now ..he he he ) who were from different religions .It almost looked like there was unity in diversity ..There was even a girl from OMAN and i am sure this was as alien to her as how their customs are to us .Then there were a few tamil ,then some malayalee gals ( i bet ,you cannot miss a malayalee in any common gathering, they are everywhere).It was so wonderful to be back to return to a gang of girls visiting someone for GOLU ...This has happened only when i was kiddo .I was all excited to see the nice arrangement , the natural plants amidst which some dolls of farmers farming were also there .Then of course,Lord Rama ,Seetha ,Krishna & Radhe who make their presence in almost all GOLU's .I loved it when a gracefully aged aunty started explaining to me on the Rama & Seetha's trip with Guhan's help as i had almost forgotten this by now ..All i remember in Ramayana was how Seetha asked for the Deer , How Rama doubted her ...Only this !!
I enjoyed the story telling & listening part , then came my turn of enthusiastic singing ..i also got some compliments (not bad ..am a bearable singer ) ..I rendered my favourite bhajan on Krishna "Yashodai Nandagopaalane" ...This song has become a part of me as i have taken so much liking towards Lord Krishna. Not sure if it is because he is so naughty or notorious but i wonder how i even like the flirtatious traits in him :-P
Then we had this pretty young malayalee girl render a song on "Guruvayoorappan"
Did u notice that all young girls seem to like Lord Krishna ??? he he he :-)
After the songs the perfect host, Srinidhi gave us the GOLU gifts and flowers.
Again this little kiddo popped up from inside me and as soon as i left the house , i opened my gift bag eagerly ..i found some pretty chain , earring , the traditional kum kum ,chandan ,mirror & comb ..nice fancy bindis, lip stick and a dazzling finger ring... I was even caught when one of my friends walked by asking what i was up to checking out some stuff like a girl looking at a candy !!! i proudly exclaimed
"This is my GOLU GIFT " .
Wow , watte experience ...!!
The next day , i managed to visit my Friend Shefali for GOLU and there again i was in awe with the dolls esp the Marapachi Bommais .She had dressed them so cutely with traditional pattu dhoti,angavasthram for the boy & pattu paavadai -sattai for the girl.Then i found two more of them at the corners. She had a nice Dakshinamoorthy idol at the centre . When i got too enthu about some of the dolls , the possessive her told me "They are Gods ,dont touch them" ..Again i knew the kid in me had peeped out .After admiring the dashaavatharam idols, i spotted the idols representing Rama,Seetha -Guhan ,Vadai -Paati -Crow & Fox story ..it was taking me to the childhood when i was told all these stories by elders.
Here again i learnt a part of the Ramayana where Hanuman goes to bring a Shiva Lingam to worship and how seetha built one out of MUD as they were getting late to leave the place. I was also told these 2 lingams exists as on date in Rameshwaram ..This destination captured in my memory instantly to the "Wish list -Places i need to see ". After a long catch up on our own gosspis & girlie stories , I promptly received the Vethlai ,Paakku and left home.
I realised i enjoyed these two GOLU visits ...They left me in total awe and excitement.They have inspired me to do my own GOLU for next Navratri . I hope i would manage that well and learn by then some more good stories from Lord Rama & Krishna's life . Let me get geared to play the perfect host for NAVRATRI GOLU -2009 !!!
2 comments:
One tip, if you are gearing up, buy Golu Dolls now! dont wait for 2009. Since the season has ended all Golu dolls will be sold 1/3 price as the sellers would like to get rid of the stocks. Its a steal, a tip i learned from my uncle long back which helped me save lot of money!
Oct 19: Many more happy returns of the day! My wishes and hope to strengthen your spirit to go on and on and make life as pleasant as it can be...
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