Navarathri Times In Chennai

WOW.. Navarathri springs up many memories for me right from my childhood days.. This time it is Navarathri away from home. Coimbatore is not a happening place for Navarathri like Chennai. Navarathri days in Chennai takes me a trip down the nostalgia lane. The nine nights that are dedicated to the Goddess of creativity in our country. The nine days of vacation after the quarterly examination when I was in school..

Every household during this time, dusts its collection of dolls for the annual event and buy the newest one in the market for the year; it could be one from the epics or even one on Bush and his war on terrorism! When I was young, I would always pester my mom to buy the biggest doll in the market for our house’s kolu. Bigger like the dolls in my friend Manoj’s home.

The excitement in helping out mom for arranging the steps and the dolls was priceless. I have been re-creating all the gorgeous idols in my mind; their colors, their contours. It was always my favorite time of the year. The perfume of the jasmine flowers on the vine and the delving into the "Big box" to take out all the kolu paraphernalia that had been packed away so lovingly the previous year, the needed dab of paint or a languors swipe with an old cloth would bring life to those toys woken from their 365 days long hibernation on dusty shelves, and the excitement of making the new paper garlands, wondering what exotic color scheme you would come up with each time, building clay mountains, coloring the road model with coal powder, watering the grass that I grew in a tray to be used as a lawn model in the doll display, pestering my mom to make the decorations look grand… Oh.. I had a lot of fun. I would peep into the hall at nights to see if dolls talk to each other. I always thought that dolls would talk to each other at nights. For me, they were guests who would get a life for 9 days a year. Nothing, nothing can come close to the charm and beauty of our celebrations. It had everything from religious fervor and cultural education to social niceties being observed- memories that will forever be mused upon.  

Those 9 days were always packed with a lot of activities at home. While kanchipuram silk clad matrons welcomed their  fair  guests with thamboolams, younger women broke into mellifilous classical carnatic and devotional songs offering a feast fit for the listeners .The air was full of goodness the smells were divine and the sounds were soothing. The excitement about the visitors coming home, going to friend's places, Mom’s lalitha sahasranamam and beautiful songs -- everything seems beautiful now.

To boys of my age those days it wasn't those toys or the fine music espoused in the gatherings that were the star attraction luring us to the houses. It was the delicacies on offer as prasads which were the sundal or steamed legumes with  just the bit of spice ,a wisp of raw mangoes and bit of coconut was the ambrosia navarathri nights were known for ,wrapped in inelegant old newspaper their humid collectiveness often sat on the tongue spouting myriad tastes of multiple flavours and as one nipped into their soft flesh  they broke into their nectar of pleasure. Hot sundal could be consumed in tons. We proved it day after day or was it night after night? What is not to like about sundal?. Every day of Navarathri brought with it a different type of sundal and if you consider the number of houses to visit in the neighborhood, you had a mind-boggling variety and quantity of sundal to be had over the 9 day period.  I used to pick and choose visits based on what sundal I was going to get.

But then there was a price to pay for the fabulous kolu’s and the awesome sundal. And that was that I had to sing. You see, I used to learn to sing south Indian classical music. And the entry fee for the kolu’s and the sundal was a song. At that age, it was almost embarrassing to admit in public that a boy used to learn classical music. It was a girl thing or so it was assumed. It was not really macho to admit much less sing in public, however talented a boy may be. In hindsight, I wish I had learnt music longer, sang more and all that. It is too late now. Anyways, I hated singing in public and it was this ridiculous trade-off. If I didn’t want to sing and avoided most of the houses for Navarathri, I lost out on all the golus and the sundal. So I sang- the same song- over and over again- until the audience were bored.

As Navarathri wrapped up, the last day was celebrated as Saraswathi Pooja - another great day from a kid’s standpoint as you got to completely not have to study. In fact, my parents forbade me from sitting in front of a book. Isn’t that awesome? No home work, nothing to do all day but play. It was one heck of a day. One day in a year. Myself and my brother would keep all the note books (including rough note book ) for saraswati pooja The toughest subject had to be on the top so that it would get more blessings from Saraswathi. You know.. I would put extra flowers on the tough subject notes so that I get good marks in them .. He he he :P

But then, the very next day on Vijaya dasami, every single book placed under Saraswati had to be read. Atleast a little bit of it. And music classes could not be skipped. It was also a day of prayers. I would get my quarterly exam answer scripts that day. When everyone had a holiday for Vijayadasami, I had to go to school to collect my quarterly report card. Sigh !! 

I look back fondly at those 9 days, 10 if you include Vijayadasami and I can’t but have a smile on my face. There was something utterly remarkable about it. And as a young boy in the neighborhood, I was just blessed to have enjoyed it as much as I could.