Pongal 2013!!!

தைத்  திருநாள் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்! இனிய பொங்கல் தின வாழ்த்துக்கள்! Happy Pongal! It’s a festival of reap & harvest and showing gratefulness for the life given by God (mainly, The SUN). So the preparations for the celebration starts with Bhogi, removal of old used materials at home, cleaning and renovating the house by painting, decorating with mango leaves and start using the new chattels! Though it symbolizes the meaning of exclusion of bad thoughts in mind from the past and to do good deeds in the future, but nowadays people misunderstood that only for their handy possessions and household necessaries. (Ideal Song for Bhogi - Poda yellam vitu thalu pazhasai yellam suttu thalu, puthusa ippo piranthom endru enikolada doi #Courtesy Valli and Illayaraja from Thalapathi movie, Of course Manirathnam and Rajnikanth!) Resulting that burning all the old clothes at street and making Ozone more permeable! Next day is Thai Pongal, first day of Tamizh month Thai. A popular adage comes to my mind if u say Thai, தை பிறந்தால் வழி பிறக்கும் i.e. beginning of Thai, will give you lot of opportunities to succeed in life. Here we celebrate this as a thanksgiving festival by consecrate the first offering to God SUN. By early in the morning, facing towards East, cooking the first grains of rice harvest with milk, ghee and other ingredients on a new earthen pot, saying Pongalo Pongal (பொங்கலோ பொங்கல்). As the Sun rises, they let the rice and milk boils and spills over the pot, which implies, on another new day, house and family will be blessed with good health and wealth forever. This marks the sign of prosperity. Main activities on this particular day would be just relaxing, greeting family and friends with sweets, munching sugarcane etc. The following day to Pongal would be, Mattu Pongal i.e. thanking Cow for being one of the utmost helper of mankind for their livelihood. So in rural areas, Ox horns are sharpened & painted to a village sport called Jallikattu i.e. taming the Ox to win prizes, very popular in down south of Tamil Nadu. Next day would be called as Kaanum Pongal, as name itself indicates Kaanum means to see, so on this day to visit our extended family relations, friends and others to thank them for all their love and support to make this year harvest a best one. But practically in these days it has become an outing day with family in the urban as well as rural areas. So all together it will be a week of holidays and celebration I am missing now, with some specific festive delicacies. Though out of country, I sated with nice Pongal for lunch at my colleagues place now and have been invited to dinner by another family friend of mine. So only the holidays are missing overall. Never mind! Let me welcome the approaching Thai to prosper & flourish everyone’s life with loads of happiness, peace and joy!!! And also wish all my friends an advance Happy Birth Day for tomorrow :) ;) :P