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..
A nice Indian festival to celebrate Ganesha falls on a working day.. a Monday!
Between jugging a car that has to be serviced and work and doing a pooja, Ganesha, the lord of removing obstacles, removed them all one after another.
San made limited edition (read limited quantity) of Kozhukkattai samples and vadai and they were (it is already in the past tense) amazing.
Usually I send selfies to my mom after any Indian festival. This time, posting it in the blog.. because as you can all tell, there is not much hair left.
Between last year and this year, hair loss has been exponential. Folks who have not seen me post anything in months should not be surprised...
Both photos clicked by San.. last year I looked up.. this year didn't even know she was taking a picture. Was just trying to finish the pooja in time so the kids are not hungry. It was good to have both kids home this time to eat dumplings!
Wishing you all a wonderful {Ganesh, Vinayakar, Pillaiyaar} Chaturthi from all of us here!
Today is a celebration for the elephant headed god Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. Was able to take a few hours this morning to finish the pooja. San was busy in meetings as well, but still managed to make some yummy kozhukkattais, Vadai and Payasam.
She even recorded me this time doing the archanai for Pullaiyaar!
One kid is eating a qdoba sandwitch for lunch after attending college and standing in a long lunch line while the other kid is in school, still fighting a stomach issue after a month.
Celebrating between the two of us is still okay and we are getting used to making do with what we can, when we can.
My pulliyaar for this poojai has not changed in decades.
Looking at this one always makes me smile and be positive. Maybe it is just a habit I have developed over the decades! Think of this as one of my Horcruxes..
San clicked this while she was talking to me about how I had a deadline to finish the neivedhiyam(food offering to Ganesha prior to it being distribution worthy) before her next meeting and I look up annoyed and she clicks.... apparently this is what passes for candid photography by wifes standards.
I am not this grumpy by default. Just didn't like to be rushed for the pooja!
Then there was a kozhukkattai (dumpling) exchange with our neighbor. I got called out to the front to take a picture. My legs were numb from sitting in same place for an hour. So got up and literally wobbled out of the house as the blood returned to my feet. In my rush didn't realize that my dhoti had come undone slightly on one side! My neighbor points this out just before clicking and I make a joke on top of her joke and voila..
As long as we have great friends and San keeps laughing at my jokes, think we will be okay!
that is more like the normal me!
and a video that San took during the poojai...
Was thinking of my grandpa a lot today and my dad. They are both big on getting saamandhi poo for the poojai. Usually we have yellow crysanthemums at this time which I use. This year they are late to bloom and the plant is full of buds that have yet to open! A thousand memories ran past my eyes as I finished the poojai. Some of my happiest memories of celebrating in India are from the Pulliayaar chathurthis. Compared to that, this is a very simple celebration.
My grandpa is a memory and my dad is not in a position to do pooja anymore. All I can do is show him these photos and videos to cheer him up.
We make to with what we can, but celebrate we still do!
