Navaratri - Page 2

Hello everyone! Since we are on the topic of Navarathri, how are you all celebrating it? Do you go goluing from one house to the next? Do you do it at home? Here we go goluing and by the time we are done, we say we are all golued out, because the houses are all in different directions, and it takes about 15 minutes to go from one house to the next, and then spend about 20minutes there, and then ... Luckily, we have only one or two people who sing, so most of us just leave after 15 minutes. The big problem is, the goody bags. This has become like a competition here, with each person getting the latest kind of bag from India, and people like me, who go there about once in six or seven years, who give it in the usual brown paper sandwich bags! Then we have the sweets to put in the goody bags, there again, we have people who make exotic stuff like walnut burfi, and people who make the tried and trusted stuff like mysore pak, cashew kathli, peda, maida burfi (that's me!).

Let me not forget the dolls. We have people who get their dolls from India, all the latest sets, then they make the parks and playgrounds and railway stations, etc., then there are people like me, with a mishmash of Ganesha idols, Krishna idols, Lakshmi, Saraswathy etc., and who arrange these on the steps, or in a shelf, as I have done this year.

The main thing, though, is the annual airing of the silks! I get to wear saris I do not always wear during the year, so the whole atmosphere is one of fun.

Do let me know how it is done in Malaysia and other places.

Netra, what is kacang? Here we make sundal and a sweet.

This is so good to hear that your girls are learning Bharata natyam and Veenai. I used to learn the veena once upon a time, but didn't spend any time with it after I got married, and then finally my mother sold the veena to someone. I really feel bad about it sometimes. Nalladhor veenai seidhai ...

When I lived in Texas, we started small by just inviting each other for haldi kumkum, and then it slowly grew, with one person doing golu, and then others followed suit. It is so much fun for young girls and children on the whole. Maybe you can start it in Malaysia.

I even tried to do a vilakku puja once, but someone's paper plate caught fire, so I stopped doing that. This year another friend is doing a vilakku puja on Friday, and she has asked everyone to bring silver plates!

I meant sundal (kacang is malay word here lols)