Navaratri celebrations in Delhi.. Surprisingly, I never had any tamil friend who would invite me for Navaratri golu! But my mother had her bunch who would not only invite her but also send a chauffeur driven car to pick her up and drop her back home.My mom was such a charismatic lady..she was everybody's guru..even mine.So I would wear a nice saree for the occasion and hop in with my mother in the car as her escort(!) and visit all these homes with her.Each lady would decorate her puja room beautifully, sometimes with golu, sometimes without it. They would all sing shlokas from different religious texts.My mother being their teacher would lead the chanting.I was her assistant, to lend her support when she took a break in between. In the end, the ladies would exchange haldi kumkum and announce the venue for the next day. I would invariably sing a song which most of them would hear every Navaratri from me! This was mandatory being 'mami's' daughter! All in all, I got a taste of our culture even though I lived so far away from the South of India.Our( I mean, my mother's)turn to call the ladies home used to be on Saraswati Puja day( the Navami) This was also the day when I would call all my students,old and new, to my place for collective prayer and reunion. My students would leave their books and notebooks a day before for me to place them for worship.On that day, I would be more aware and dedicated in my prayers because I was being responsible for so many of these little hearts who had trust in MY prayers!! I was blessed for being able to do that and if I still feel blessed it is because of KARMA.What you give,you get! My celebrations with my students were definitely not religious. They were more on uniting us all together.. understanding and respecting each other's individuality and presence in the Collective.I had my trusted senior students who would show up on that day to join in the celebrations and help me with it too! I love you all so much, dear children! My own children would keep their books along with my students for the puja.So there used to be a huge pile of books and notebooks, not less than 50 sets atleast!! We would do the puja as a family first and then my appa and amma would join us for aarti. All this before my students would start arriving. It used to be really a hectic day! In the evening I would be with my mother to assist her with her puja celebrations and attend to her friends.Later in the day, we would all sit together and discuss how it all went and how we enjoyed the whole process eating "chundal" as prasadam!! Added to this would be my visit to the local durga bari with my daughter and karthayani temple with my mother during the last three days of Navaratri. This happened every year for almost 20 years! Precious days indeed!!There was this one time when my mother and my mother in law were together at my place.I was writing my books those days and was really really busy!!! They both made all the arrangements for the ladies pooja and haldi kumkum.What a camaraderie they showed with each other!! Love them both!! I am not going to say I miss those days because I enjoyed them to the core and am immensely satisfied..Today is a new day..a new beginning.Happy Navaratri everybody!
