Navratri 2013

Navratri comes with its own charm of golu,kutcheris,temple visits and what not!! One of those times where i dont miss visiting the temple I was delighted to see the Amman in various forms for all the 9 days and it becomes like a countdown for me to guess and wait to see what will be her form that day and trying to learn what forms those avatarams meant too And interesting part are the golu visits where everyone tries to portray their favorite stories through their golu I did learn a little about parts of ramanyana and wonder why no one chooses mahabaratam storied in golu displays Taking Vihaan to the Anantha padmanabasamy temple was like a ritual in itself and bonus was when one trip his friend Kimaya joined in And it was lovely to have some of my friends home for vathilai paaku custom Navratri makes me feel like a traditional complete woman in this modern world where you dont often feel that way Hope i enjoy the navratris to come and look forward to my very own Golu Navratri:-)

My Golu Visits :-))

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 !!!