Madan, due apologies though I prefer Kovai anyday to humid crowded Chennai. Although avenues for culture and art are much limited in Kovai people seem to take time to live :)
One of the things I like and miss about Chennai is madras bashai , really that would make for a great discussion if there has not been one. How much of Madras bashai is really genuine or in use? Kamal, Nagesh, Cho, Chandrababu, Manorama long list of veterans who are experts at talking but is that the way it is really spoken? Perhaps veteran chennai vaasis can explain?
Well, IMHO, madras bashai is still in use - without the feel of ridcule thats usually associated with it. Its as much like the brahmin bashai - you only get to hear if you are in certain circles - else, you might live your whole life not hearing brahmin bashai at all - similarly, madras bashai you will get to hear if you are in certain neighbourhoods... For example, I hardly hear it living in TNAgar.... in Nanganallur, I have heard it in some area (especially ullagaram, closer to madipakkam)...
But overall, I think it is in vogue. My feeling about madras bashai is that it is tamil+english simplified for speech.
Venkat, Madras a telugu town?? Wow that is news to me. FYI Kovai is a huge telugu town, I mean absolutely huge, you can survive in Kovai without knowing any tamil at all. Do general public understand telugu liberally, in Chennai?
Yes absolutely on Brahmin bashai being in vogue in magazines of olden days. Even jokes were in brahmin bashai only in AV and Kalki. And of course Gopulu drew every woman in brahmin attire regardless of whether the novel was made up of brahmins or not. Most writers like Lakshmi subtly used Brahminism without making the characters explicitly brahmin.
> Well, I missed it for the "Golu Sundal Collection Spree" of my wife and mother for which I was the escort .
Did you read about the excort services during singapore F1 grand prix !!
> I told you that I will try to make it by 5.30 PM, but by the time we reached home it was well beyond 6 and hence had to opt out. > > So what did you all discuss about.
I havent read it. DidI miss something interesting there? Nevertheless this escorting was very thankless asthere was literally no Sundal in any house where we went. All ladies items only.
I have lots of memories around Navarthri...my parents were deeply religious and when my grandparents were alive it was truly done in the manner intended to , we had a steel shelf which served as a shelf in regular days and converted into sliding series of 9 padis for kolu. When vadhyar came and left after the great Mahalaya Amavasya Tarpana (actually that is one of the few days when we looked forward to vadhyar's visit, to kick off 9 days of excitement!!) the great and exciting event of unwrapping the dolls from the attic, for us girls the smell of old newspaper and meeting our doll friends from one year from their sojourn in the attic was something to look forward to, as each doll was begun to be unwrapped there would be excited 'oh's and a'hs and grandparents relating the story behind how that doll came into the family, typically some stories went back 3 generations, once we even found hindu newspaper dated 1947 in which a doll was wrapped! Then it would a whole day ritual to arrange them on the shelves each person vying with another on their opinion.
The last shelf was the 'creative' one, where we kids could do what we liked, typically grow some seeds for small fields, set up shop with chettiar bommai and small vessels of rice and spices, and a real town with trains and buses and so on. After we had our fill the yellow coconut kumbam with mango leaves and decorated pithalai sombu would take its place of honor.
Every day would begin with my grandmother's voice rendering Kamalambaam Bhajare in a different raaga, mornings were usually payasam and archana to Devi with kumkum. Evenings were the social events, when we girls were dressed up in our silks, hair adorned with flowers/rakkodi (do girls know what that is now!!?) and given kumkum to visit and invite other mamis. We had our choice of homes despite what we were told - a mami who cooks well/makes good sundal is definitely first choice, mamis who force us to sing before offering anything were skipped if we could, mamis who gave coconuts and blouse pieces were for the older generation and so on. It would be almost 10 pm when we got home with our stomach full of sundal, grandmothers would be ready with curd rice seasoned with asafoedita to get rid of gastric upsets caused by too much sundal, then our braids would be loosened and flowers/decorations removed and off to bed.
After saraswati pooja there would be much sentiment and sometimes even tears while dolls were packed and sent back to their attic homes until next year.
It sounds like another time, another age now. Children nowadays know Barbie better than navarathri dolls made so creatively in their own land. Nobody has time for creative festivity any more, our lives are occupied in the mad rush for survival. Why blame any one else, am looking at how Dow Jones is doing now after the 600$ bailout and what that means for me, my job, etc. These treasured memories are all we have and atleast share with one another, even if we cannot pass them on to our children.
Thanks Vijay, heart warming to note that some people still remember honor the kolu. The doll collection in my house is 3 big steel trunks (the old fashioned trunks) full most of it extremely well preserved. There are dolls from all parts of india, from mysore maharaja's collection (my great grandfather worked for Mysore Palace), from Pune which used to be very famous for reused paper art work, wooden dolls from Orissa, and of course lots of them bought right outside our beloved Kapali temple during Navaratri. They are not garishly colored like dolls ofm modern times, very subtle coloring, beautiful face gestures and clothing. I often wonder what we would do with them - they have not left their suitcase abode after my mother passed away 5 years ago.
It is my dream someday to revive the ritual in all its glory. Only God knows.
Hi Check out my Kolu (last year's) from the following link. I had set up our festivals from Jan to Dec.in mini scale. This year I've done only a small kolu (just 7 dolls) 'cos I've some travelling to do. Shobha
Thank you SPS and all. I will post some pics of Kolu of those days when I get time to scan the pictures. We even have some pics of the kolu outside Kapali temple (actually it is a sale set up as Kolu).