Pongal O' Pongal

(image from the Pongal restaurant web-page at pongal dot org)

Pongal - literally translates to "boiling over" as in boiling over in thankfullness, joy, celebration, a joie-de-vivre if you will. It is a celebration of the harvest, and also of the elements of nature that helped sustain the harvest, and the farm animals that helped sow the fields. Simply, it is an elegant, charming celebration of nature and our part in it. January 14 of the Gregorian calendar marked this year's celebration of the harvest in Tamil Nadu in southern India.

The first day of the month of "Thai" (rhymes with why) marks the transit of the Sun from the sign of Saggitarius to the sign of Capricorn. In southern India, it coincides with the withdrawal of the monsoons, and the ripening and eventual harvest of the fields. Plus, this also marks the end of the (brief) chilly period that is heralded by the previous month of Margazhi. Ergo, it also means a favourable disposition from the Sun. What better way to celebrate all of the above, than to indulge in it?
Traditionally the festival spreads over three days.

The first day of the festival is actually the last day of the previous month (Margazhi). Bhogi (or bhogi pongal) is the day that heralds the ushering out of the old. Its the day the house is cleaned out, and items discarded into a bonfire. If the harvest has not yet been collected, this day also marks the finishing of reaping. Kolams (or Rangolis) adorn the fronts of homes, adding to the colourful nature of the festival.

Day 2 (also the first day of the new month of Thai) is the day of offering to the Sun and the elements. This is what makes the festival of Pongal a naturally charming festival - celebrating the Sun and Earth for their bounty in the crop, the elements for their cooperation in helping create and sustain the bounty they've just harvested. Naturally, this festival is an outdoor festival. Feasts are prepared in open wood-flame stoves in earthen pots with ingredients that are the traditional part of the harvest of the season - rice, lentils and sugarcane, along with spices like turmeric and ginger, and other crops. These earthen pots are colorfully adorned too, in keeping with the spirit of the season. (See image at top).

Finally, no traditional farmer was complete without his/her own cattle to drive the ploughs. And no farmer can celebrate their harvest without celebrating their farm animals (most notably the cattle that did and still do drive the ploughs of the farmers). This marks Day 3 or Maattu Pongal. The cattle get a well-deserved cleaning, and are decorated up and paraded around the village square. For the women in the households, this also marks what is referred to as Kaanum Pongal - food is offered as rolled balls to the birds and smaller animals of the farm - each of which in their own way contributed to the success of the harvest. This is a day of revelry, fun and frolic. And this also overflows in the following day, and in many places this is considered as the fourth day of Pongal, though in all actuality, the only thing about this day is the farmers get to spend it on their own with their families.

Bawarchi has a fantastic write-up on Pongal, (including excellent material on the antecedants of the various traditions). That article is also a source for part of the material authored above. Another good source is the "About" write up on the festival.

May the bounty of Pongal smile into the hearts, minds and homes of every man, woman and child. May the blessings of the Sun smile its way into and warm every home and hearth of this Earth.

The Madness of the after-Thanksgiving sale..

Now, I admit. This is a big case of a pot calling the kettle black. In the past, I have been up and running at 5 am and earlier, to get in time to take advantage of the remarkable discounts offered on a handful of electronics at various stores, during that huge sale on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Yet, I have to say, for all the lunacy you can associate with my getting up at 5 am or so, to get to the mall, there are boat loads of people that take the cake when it comes that.

The story I heard at Best Buy during this years sale - "There was such a crowd, they had to give out tickets to ascertain that the FIRST hundred or so customers got to the items that they wanted". Can you imagine? Such a big crowd that they had to give out tickets. And here is the kicker...some of them camped outside the store from the previous night, sometimes for over 10 hours, surviving through temperatures in the high 30s.

And for what? This year for instance, it was to save $150 on a digital camera. Maybe its a worthwhile saving, but I cannot imagine for the love of god, that I would be able to do such a thing. But then hey, if I were to compare the way I act to the ways people act, I am sure I will be unable to comprehend most of the actions.

Ultimately though, what transpires is that the Friday after thanksgiving turns into possibly the biggest single day of shopping anywhere in the world. Finally though, the Americans have one real thing they are the World Champions at....spending boat-loads of money in one day.

As for me, this year, I did try to get to the Best Buy asap to get to the digital camera. But hey, I got there only at the more human time of 8 am, and I got my hands only on a Canon PowerShot S1 - IS and an EPSON Stylus CX4600 Printer/Scanner/Copier and made a small but significant dent in my savings. But hey, I was looking forward to buying something interesting and with a good optical zoom level. And I got it :)

'Tis the season for giving thanks...

So, what are you thankful for, in your life?

Me? I am thankful for everything that is going on in my life. Things are not exactly all hunky-dory, but hey, considering that it could be just as well be really worse than what it is. And thats what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for the fact that I am a living breathing thinking being, who has the ability to distinguish the right from the wrong, the dos from the donts.

I am thankful for the fact that I am able to make a living for myself, and at the same time set aside time to take care of mine.

I am thankful for the fact that God has given me the ability to appreciate the finer things in life - that glorious desert sunset, the rainbow in the skies on a rainy-sunny day, an elephant caring and doting on its calf, the misty dewy crispy winter mornings at home, the hot cup of south Indian filter coffee in the morning from the loving hands of mother, arguing and talking with father, wrestling with brother, playing tag-you're it with sister, listening to cute nothings from nieces, seeing the dog making a fool of itself fawning over a long-gone visitor....the list just goes on and on and on and on

Ultimately I am thankful that there is still good left in the world that is worth fighting for - whether that good is in family or country notwithstanding.

Happy Thanksgiving