Time to celebrate.

Hey, Its Sunday.  Time to sit and relax...but I feel like I am forgetting something...Sunday in our house means laziness... Sitting in front of TV watching The Good dinosaur and reading newspaper..

A pamphlet fell that says...Dandiya night!

Oh wow!

Now I remember what I was forgetting.. its Navratri round the corner....

The festive season of Navratri is few days away, and it's time for celebrations so I have to make proper arrangements i.e. cleaning the house and temple, purchasing clay pot and barley seeds, food for fasting. So no more relaxing on Sunday.

Time to get started...

It's been years seeing my mother and grandmother celebrating Navratras  and few when I started following them and now I try to bring back that magic for my son. He keeps asking questions and I too love explaining things and sharing stories of my childhood.

Navratri brings cherishing memories of my childhood. This time I share my stories with you, hope you find them entertaining.

I love these Navratras more than that comes around march-april. These navratras not only welcome autumn but many other festivals like Dusherra, Karwachauth, Hoyi, Diwali and Bhai dooj.

I live in North India, Punjab and I was born in a Punjabi family where honouring the nine forms of Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati is considered highly auspicious and its more of a family tradition. These nine forms of Shakti are called Navadurga known by the names Shailputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Katyayani, Kalratri, Siddhidatri, Skandmata, and Mahagauri.

While jotting down the names I felt like I heard my dad's voice coming from somewhere behind my ear because he used to make me and my siblings recite all the names loud and clear every night before bed.

Khetri

On Day 1, my grandma used to sow barley seeds known as khetri in clean soil placed in clay pot. Then its watered and worshiped for 9 days. Twice a day a diya(small lamp) made of clay is lit using oil and cotton thread and prayers are offered and till the end of navratri, these seeds grow into 3-5 inches long shoots. We kids use to be so excited and keenly wait for seeds to shoot. Mom kept saying don't keep peeking but we never listened. The longer it got wider was the arc of smile on our face because mom always says its all about "blessings from Mata Rani (divine power). 

Till date she keeps asking me "how long did it got?”  She is now our expert guide who has answers to all queries regarding its color, size and even tries her hand on future predictions.. Well she says she learnt from TV shows that comes on every other religious channel Astha, Sadhna...It’s always fun listening her. 

Fasting 

First seven days fast are observed for purification, both mental as well as physical. Mom and grandma used to fast because they believed one should consume nourishing foods, in minimal quantities to get rid of body toxins. 

In Navratras the consumption of garlic and onion is prohibited and consumption of alcohol and non-vegetarian food is considered inauspicious and unholy. 

Fasting means to exercise self control which I definitely lack so I always restraint myself from fasting. 

Even though I didn't like to fast I always loved the fasting cuisine which mom used to make. I still remember that unforgettable fragrance that tempted me and my younger brother and sister to make rounds in the kitchen. It was more significant for us because it was normally made in Navratri means twice a year, march-april and september-october.

Weather, sleeping under the sky with blanket of stars. 

During navratras weather starts to change. It’s so pleasant that you neither have to face the scorching heat of the summers nor the biting cold of the winters. It's perfect to sleep under sky watching stars.

So we used to sleep on terrace under the sky watching stars listening stories of constellation from Bauji (that's what we used to  all our grandfather) where Dad kept reminding us to cover ourselves or else we'll catch cold.

The true joy of the delighted moonlit night is something we no longer understand. It was fun playing games of making shapes with bright stars with siblings and and who'll find the brightest star first with dad. I really miss those days. 

We talked, laughed and with the cool fresh breeze voices slowly began to diminish and we fell asleep and chirping of birds in early mornings were like icing on the cake.

Durga pooja, Dandiya and Ramlila

Many people in western India know these Navratras because of Garba or Dandiya and in Eastern India by Durga pooja.

For Dandiya nights people dress up in bright and colourful traditional dresses and dance with full energy. Now a days due to bollywood movies its popular all over India and Durga pooja is a festival to celebrate victory of good over evil. Its said Maa Durga killed demon Mahishasur. These days I see Durga pooja pandals everywhere , its very common in north India now. 

But in 25 yrs old North India, unlike east and west Navaratri meant Ramlila events, where episodes from the story of Rama and Ravana were enacted by teams of artists.

As a kid we(siblings)  went to dad and asked to take us to watch ramlila. It was not easy to convince him because of school days and these Ramlilas meant really late night shows sitting in open in an open ground in front of temporarily constructed stage.

But somehow we convinced him and went excitedly and found a decent seat and bauji bought us peanuts to eat.

Frankly speaking I found them too loud and melodramatic,  Ravana loud laughter "Haaaaa haaaa haaa",  men playing women characters, the lighting and loud background music to create perfect environment.  It was fine till here but a girl dancing in between break on a bollywood song "mera laung gavacha” was a big spoiler.

That was my first and last visit but I still feel amused to see people gathering to watch these shows.

Ashtami. 

On Ashtami (8th day) fasts are broken by inviting nine young girls from the neighborhood, who are honored with food, gifts and money etc.

Me and my sister were called by neighbors and they worshipped us like Goddesses. It felt so special everyone gave full attention,  they cleaned our feet with water, offered food and gift then touched our feet and asked for blessings and at the end of the event we use to count the money collected and our brother when use to get annoyed seeing us counting our treasure but mom use to compensate everything. I miss all those moments and innocent fights. 

In the evening we children together with mom and grandma used to visit temple to offer prasad to girls sitting outside temple and while back home we used to enjoy street food mainly aloo tikkis and golgappas. It felt so special because we weren't allowed to eat anything other than homemade food during Navratras.

Adieu Navratri 

At the end of Navratri khetri is taken out of the vessel and are immersed in river, running water or placed in nearby temple.

It was the time when mom allowed us to go near the river, 25 years ago kaushalya river was flooded with water but with climate changes its all dried up and the banks are now covered with garbage. With passing years no one wished to go near it so khetri was kept beneath the Pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) outside the temple.

With the 9th day Navmi, Ramlila comes to an end and then comes Dussehra (10th day) where the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghanada are burnt to celebrate the victory of good over evil forces.

These beautiful memories fill my heart with love and warmth. What's a marvelous way to refresh yourself and kick away stress. 

We still are in process in making memories for us and our son. Hope he too will have something to share with his kids.

Before I say bye I just want to say that just offer all our fears, worries and negativity to the divine power and let her rejuvenate our soul with Knowledge, courage and wisdom.

Let's pray for Peace and Happiness for everyone this Navratras.

Thanks for reading....