Last year there were no celebrations or festivities in our house. It was a year of “remembering dad”.
This year we started celebrating again with the Varalakshmi, then Krishna Jayanthi, Aavaniavittam, Ganesha Chathurthi and finally we are ending with the Navarathri festivities. Life has thrown a few curveballs in the last few months and every event ended up with memories that made it not blog worthy.
Finally getting to share some photos from those events in the blog, before we get to the kolu padis..
Let’s go one step at a time..and I made them all collages..
Food that completely covers the carb, fat, sugar ternary phase diagram..
Then there is photos I send to my mom after completing each poojai or prayer… you can see the improvement in my knee from the smile on my face after sitting down cross legged for an hour at least for each of these prayers.. This morning I managed a smile and drove to work without any additional swelling!
A few other photos (the Onam spread would have required a wide angle lens that is yet to be developed)..
Now that brings us to the Navarathri festival that needs a special post or two..
Last year we celebrated Gokulashtami, Krishnas birthday at home. The kid was leaving for college that very weekend but we did a great job with bakshanams, dressing up and the overall mood was upbeat.
Today was yet another working day Gokulashtami. Monday mornings are always busy. Even though we were both working from home, the fact that the little one is back to school and we have to get ready at the usual time, do a school drop off, disrupted the flow. There was even a doc appointment in the middle of all of this.
Did make a 100 or so seedai, but put too much butter. The seedai was porous, so I will have to make it again soon, just to make up for the experience. San made some aval payasam. We did a simple celebration.
A simple treat for Krishna..
and the "I am still a good boy mommy!" picture as I call it..
San gets credit for taking this picture! She even cracked a joke for me to smile!
Next year, will take a day off and do a better job of celebrating!
This year we are celebrating Gokulashtami in a much simpler way.
Made some seedai in the morning with some help from San who also made some maladdoos and looked lovely today..
We did a small pooja and did neivedhiyam and deeparadhanai.
did I mention she looked absolutely lovely today?
This year, one more person dear to us has reached Krishna.. San's grandpa is one with Krishna now! Was thinking of him, even if it was for a brief moment while doing the deepa aaradhanai.
The kids have stopped dressing up for functions, but their motivation for dressing up is when someone is going to see them dressed up. Parents don't count on that list. Given COVID times, I understood and gave them a pass. There are a few functions they look forward to.. especially when the star of the show is a cute crawling baby, a cute looking elephant, lighting lamps and bursting fire crackers or simply the excuse of "I cant study today because all my books are with Saraswati ummachi".
We have passed on what we could to the next generation. Feel happy that my kids are aware of traditions. Right now there are kids growing up in Tamil Nadu as well as a lot of young adults who have managed to develop so much self loathing for their own culture and tradition in the name of secularism that is being pushed in their face. The marketing machinery that has gone into over drive in recent times to do this to so many kids at this scale is mind boggling.
You can accept another's faith without having to show you gave up on your own! This is so much easier to do and understand, especially when you have a concept of god being in every form, shape, size, color, nature and being open to acceptance. I can understand it being a lot harder for religions where the concept is "my way is the only way".
"Sarva deva namaskaraha Keshavam prathigachathi" is something we say as part of doing Sandhyavandhanam every day. When you prostrate yourself in front of any god, it all eventually goes to the same god. It is a beautiful message.
On a totally tangential note, I have been wearing the same 5 "pocket vechcha T-shirts" in rotation since the lockdown when going out. Inside the house it has been the 60-day challenge shirts in rotation. Using Krishna's birthday as an excuse, finally put on a new T-shirt from the collection of unopened gifts.
This one was courtesy of my FIL/MIL or one of San's uncles. Feels good to wear new clothes every now and then! Apparenlty after eating everything I do look like a blue whale.
A very happy Gokulashtami to everyone. I know that given the technicality of the calendar a lot of folks celebrate Krishnas birthday in early September this year. An advance Gokulashtami wish to them!
