Pongalo Pongal

Right from school, Pongal celebrations always start with Bhogi, even now when Bhogi is no longer a declared holiday.We light up Bhogi fire as early as possible.This time we were up at five-ish and we had hoarded a lot of old things to burn (to my delight).The fire was alight for a long time and by the time it was out, the sun had risen.

it was mixed feelings that the Pongal day fell on a Saturday and holiday was clubbed into the weekend off days...This is our Pongal kolam for this year. For many years we used to meticulously plan the kolam the previous day but this year,mom just winged it.. and it turned out so pretty.

One of the additional joys this year is that we grew our own Sugarcanes. We had three canes cut fresh from the garden in the early hours of Pongal day. I was one proud gardener that day. It was a real feat to maintain the plant for the past 12 months :).

We grew our turmeric as well just like last year.

Home grown turmeric and sugarcane all decked up as the main decoration..

As I said we make Pongal the old school, traditional way. First a layer of sand is laid and a small kolam put over it..

then the earthen stoves kept over it, one for venpongal and one for sarkkarai pongal.The kolam,stove and the pots are decorated with Manjal and Kunkumam as they mark auspiciousness

It addition,turmeric stumps tied around the bronze pots' neck and then kept on the earthen stove

Prayers offered before lighting the camphor under the wooden sticks

with five years of practice,we had no trouble this year to get a glorious fire going

soon the water boiled and it was time to add the rice

Now is the time we start shouting 'Pongalo Pongal'.This is the moment that defines the entire celebration.This is the moment to pray to god that our life and the land flourishes just like this pongal pot.

A mere 20 minutes work after, Pongal is ready, to be served

Offering the venpongal and sarkkarai pongal to God, along with few harvests from the garden before we indulge in.

The rest of the day is reserved for family fun,occasional outings and roaming around the city.We do used to go to a local talent show that happens every Pongal day organized by the youth welfare associations but it did not happen this year,maybe due to the recent non-sensical DeMo that happened,who knows,but it was very sorely missed.

Veg garden - a quick update

Let me start this new year by posting some bountiful harvests from the garden.The legumes are doing good this year too and we are having a steady supply of broad and runner beans,most times a single harvest amounting to two kilograms on an average.

 The plants are laden with flowers and fruits..

The winter months are a great time for vegetable gardening and we are now reaping the fruits of our labor.We are stepping into the third year of organic gardening and there are lots growing-tomatoes,brinjal,pumpkin and some more gourds- but they are yet to produce fruits. Fingers crossed and waiting.

The real festival of Lights

It was a bit chilly and windy than usual this year but we braved through it and had an excellent Karthigai Deepam celebrations.I think Karthigai Deepam has become my favourite in the recent times and I am thankful for having yet another good one.

It was a quiet day from the morning, did not have much to clean up,the lamp cleaning started only in the evening.Everything that was needed were bought earlier on, fearing the onset of Vardah storm but thankfully it did not even rain in our part of the state.

After a cleaning the lamps, it was time to draw the rangoli.Mom planning the kolam in paper

which came alive within a half an hour in the frontyard,attractive to look at any angle I would say!

Every year we plan to have something new in the deck.Our new addition for this year Deepam were these which we bought in a sale during Deepavali.

Soon the sun set and the moon arose, the first lamp was lit and then all followed suit..

first the kolam was decorated

then some on the footsteps

and many on the compound wall

the lamps had the task to brave the blowing wind

Many went off often but lit again within an instant in our constant watch

the second day, the kolam planned was of a smaller size as is the norm

but the lamp counts were the same on the many compound walls to my delight

I spent eons watching the glowing lamps..

..feeling grateful for the peaceful time.

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice happens today,meaning, today will be the shortest day for this year.I remembered it early morning and Google confirmed it for me.The weather is also mild and moody making it a pleasant day.Winter solstice doesn't mean much difference in the day-to-day activities here,for a place that is nearer the tropic of cancer, but knowing it is the shortest day makes a difference to me.Not much but just knowing it makes the difference.

For some days recently I was meaning to write about my stargazing experience for this year.I will take this day as an opportunity to do just that. I was eyeing for another meteor shower view all through this year but it seemed to never happen at all-atleast until late August. Thats when Perseid meteoroids fall and this year was supposed to a peak year for them. It looks like the peak year happen every ten years or so.I tried for the first few days when the fall started but I was late to the party.To see the Perseid meteor shower,you have to be in the terrace at the hours just before dawn. Like at 3 AM but all I could do was get at five-ish only. Another thing with the 3 AM hour is the mosquitoes. Looks like they never sleep. After my first day attempt I started dabbling odomos before stepping out and even carried the tube along.Thank God, Perseids happen in August so no fear of midnight cold. It was actually pretty humid at that hour.

The third day I was very alert as that was supposed to be the peak day.My dad gave me company on the third day and we were there in the terrace at around 2.50 am.My father is also interested in stargazing and everytime he keeps me company for a shower view,I will be ready to hear his story about his experience as a kid. My father had witnessed a meteor shower when he was a kid(could have been six or eight year old)but not like anything we do these days to see the shower.Those days there were no common transport and so they make long journeys by foot even to reach far away places.They usually start the journey around evening to avoid sunburns and walk entire nights and reach the destination by morning. My father was once making such a trip with his grandfather,walking through a farmer's field and suddenly he saw a bright array of meteors falling. He describes it was just like a rain but only with light. He and his grandfather stopped the walk and saw the shower in all its brilliance and then resumed the journey.I had tried to work out the facts in the story and tried to pinpoint when it could have happened and what meteor shower(there are atleast six prominent meteor showers in a year)he actually saw. After some research and guesswork,I think he had indeed watched an Perseid shower.I always love to hear his experience and imagine what a luck, to sit in the terrace and listen to his retelling at that hour when the entire town is sleeping.

This year we did not have to sit watching the blank sky for hours.This year truly turned out to be peak year for Perseid shower and we saw meteors streaking past every minute and sometimes three at a time.My father asked how these showers happen and I went full fledged explaining,as the nerd in me was waiting for him to ask me that question. We also discussed about the planets and the stars and lamented about how the weather and climate is spoiled by man these days. After a while, my sister too came and joined us and we had our usual fun of counting how many meteors each of us saw fall.Thinking back, I would say that is the best stargazing experience I have ever had in my life. I did not have much luck after the Perseid till day but I am content. And that night was enough to keep me motivated and grateful.

Just realized this post is going to be picture less so I will include a mind blowing video from Youtube.I wish I had come across the facts in the video when I was in school.Have a nice day!

Garden update -- Herbs

The garden is now delivering something to the food table every day. The ornamentals always do but only now we have everyday produce from something or the other in the veg/herb department,especially the herbs.

We do not have to do anything to propagate in a new container. Just place the new pot nearby and they will 'hop'

An usual day's haul

 My long time efforts at growing mint in container has finally come to a great success. We now have at least four containers of mint keeping us a steady supply.We have done mint repotting twice for all of the containers. I will talk about mint repotting in detail in my next month's garden post.

Early morning harvest,like at 6 AM

This is a good weather to grow methi/fenugreek. I sowed in three small pots and some seeds here and there and now we have methi supply guaranteed for atleast a month. We will be sowing some more like this until late March and stop after when the weather gets too hot.

I have my doubts for them..gardening is a game of wait and watch

Lastly,I have again started to try my hand at growing coriander. This is a tricky herb to grow and we have only 25% success rate till now for two years. Luckily we came across a store selling good quality coriander seeds,they sell for culinary use but when tried to sow, all the seeds germinated to our delight. Two pots of just germinated tiny coriander plants and all our fingers crossed.

I do not have a picture of the curry plants (trees!) that provide with us fresh leaves everyday,so not including them here. We also have different types of keerai growing in very minor quantities like manathakkali,ponnanganni,mulai keerais'. I will try to squeeze a picture in my next month's herb post.

I will sneak in a pretty picture although they are not herbs. We were blessed to have fresh flowers from the garden to decorate the lamps for Karthigai deepam day.I was mesmerized by the freshness of these chrysanthemums.I bet you would be too...Enjoy and have a wonderful day!See ya in next...

A crochet work to show..

..after a very long time. My niece celebrated her Birthday recently and I took up the opportunity to crochet something. The girl is crazy about snowman and after a long search in the youtube found a tutorial for making a tiny stuffed snowman.The tutorial was elaborate and looked easy to make.As I had all the things needed handy,it took only 45 minutes to complete the snowman and his hat and scarf.

The snowman turned out to be only 2 inches tall and while the tutorial recommended using 3D paint for nose and eyes, I crocheted a small nose in wool and stitched it in place.I also made a change to the hat's design.

We put some cotton to resemble snow in a box and sat the snowman.I am still learning when it comes to various crochet techniques but am happy my first effort at a stuffed toy turned out well.My niece was very happy with this tiny gift that I made.

October skies

Guess game...is this sunrise or sunset?

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Guess what,I would have bet a 1000 bucks for this to be a sunrise if I had not been the one who took the picture. This is a glorious sunset that happened on a pleasant evening in October.The sun was appearing full (like shown in the below picture) at around 5.26pm and quickly started disappearing into the clouds at 5.33pm as seen in the first picture.Well,October skies are always special to me--when the evenings are mild and foggy and the southwest monsoon breeze blowing with a mild hint of cold and the sky being usually clear with a full view of the sun--an excellent opportunity for skygazing.

It was just like watching a magic trick -where did the clouds come from?where they were always there waiting for the Sun to come and cozily nest in them? I did not care about it all..I was just feeling blessed to just stand there and witness the magic.