Deepavaliku dress vaangitiyaa.....?

Gone are those days when we eagerly buy new clothes for important occasions.Life in this country has made us forget important festivals. Deepavali would be just another daywith the usual samayal and nothing more.Atleast "Pongal" Might remind us to make "venn pongal" and "sakkarai pongal" but deepavali dint seem to trigger one particular item to make the festival complete.

Rewinding 10 - 12 yrs back...The festive mood would start a month early with the advertisements in TV for the latest designs in sarees,salwars and jewellery.Amma and her friends(neighbours) would start thinking about the sweets and savories that need to be ordered.sundar anna from chari mama's catering service would come in one day to collect the orders for the whole partment.As usual,it would be mine and bharath's favourites ranging from laddu,mysore pa crossing into adhirsam and ending with murukku and mixture.

Unlike other festivals where you get to enjoy the sweets only after the prayers, deepavali is the only one where you start munching even weeks before the actual festival.Amma and her friends would ask the orders to be delivered just a day or 2 before the actual festival to make sure that there will be still something left out for the actual festival day and would store a seperate share for the daily-helpers ranging from the milk man to the post man.

I get to wear the gold earrings, golusu,chain and valayal as soon as the holiday mood starts.Long weekends would be the only ones that I show interest in wearing the jimiki and golusu.Rest of the days would be the most precious ones picked from pondy bazaar or ranganathan street."pandigai naal adhuvumaa kandatha potukkatha dee" would be the comment from paati.

On the evening(day before deepavali), "arattai katcheri" would begin with the neighbours showing their deepavali clothes and last minute purchases.Tales(read it complaints) about getting the salwars and blouses stiched on time or the design change(sodhappal) that the tailor made and the fight to get it altered right on time would definitely be a part of the topic.

There was no strict Pooja associated with deepavali where you'll have to wait and make the offerings to the god and then have your part. The new clothes would generally be the most expensive one for the year and would already be marked with turmeric and arranged in a "kolam podapatta manai" in front of the god. There was no need for an alarm and the street folks would start the cracker bursting competition.The house that has more papers in the "Vaasal" ( from the burst crackers )would be highly looked upon.

By the time we wake up,the "venneer andaa"(hot water boiler)will be ready.The big batch would contain atleast a cup of "Ganga jalam" added to purify the whole batch.A "nalangu" followed by oil bath would be the routine.The goddess lakshmi is supposed to reside in the oil and ganga in the water purifying the body and the soul.New dresses and jewellery follow and the first thing to eat would be the deepavali marunthu or "legiyam" in order to ensure the sanity of our stomachs even when we go overboard.I was never a big fan of bursting crackers(scared!!) and would restrict to the busvanam and changu chakrams.Amma would warn me to be careful with my clothes.It was usually my brother who would burst the lakshmi vedi and the other noisy ones. Exchanging the wishes over the phone would be a major test for the ears and TV would almost be in the mute mode inspite of increasing volume.
The typical pandigai samayal would be the morekozhambu with vazhaikkai poriyal followed by pachadis, vadai,payasam and what not.The rest of the day would be spent watching the TV programmes .Amma would perform a lakshmi poojai in the vening and the day would end with the 10,000-wala saram that kicha uncle burst every year.

Deepavaliku dress vaangitiyaa?.. asked my mama in our daily chat......Anga laam verum mathappu thaan kolutha mudiumaamae...apdiyaa?....

I quickly thought about those golden times and replied..Deepavaliyaa...eppo mama???...mathappoo?...i dont even remember when i saw that last and dressaa...no specific time mama...eppo vaangareno appo potuppen.