Navarathri

Today is the 4th day of Navarathri. Every year we keep golu and I have been doing it even when i was in Malaysia and now in Canada too.. Navarathri brings so many wonderful memories of childhood days when my patti used to keep golu in a grand scale and my mom and aunt used to help her with it.. It was lots of fun dressing up and going out with my friend to the houses of all the neighbours in the street and see their golu. Once we step in, they will say," Chinna ponnu,kattayam pattu paadithaan ahanum- small girls should surely sing" Then we will sing some song or other and then look at the golu and our little stomachs will get filled by sundal from all the mami's houses.. Then my patti will ask me which golu was the best and go to see their golu.. We used to do Kolattam ( a form of dandiya) too during the time.. Then we used to go the temple and see the various golus kept at the temple.. The place where i lived was Tirunelveli and its in the southern part of Tamilnadu, India. On the 10th day, Vijayadasami was celebrated as a major festival and nearly 10 goddesses come together as oorvalam-procession and gather at a common ground. We used to go and do pooja to all the goddesses one by one and see arathi at all the chariots.. I think this festival still goes on there..

Now coming back my golu, this year my golu seems to be pretty big , thanks to my mom, chithi and mami who shopped for all the dolls.. I just had to ask for 1 or 2 and they bought a good collection.. So this time, I have 7 steps and pretty good with all lights and I have made a temple and theppakulam and also a wildlife park.. I also made a farmhouse and animals and also some fields..and a themepark.. I think its come out pretty good..

And yeah, as usual,like every year,I have invited people over in the weekend. Here are some pics of this year's golu..