Its called Karadayan nombu.

Thats what its called , however strange it may sound and wired it may feel. We still continue to follow it atleast for now.

When it was Karadayan nombu this time, i was getting ample reminders from mom a week ahead! we had do the rituals this time, even though she is not around. We need to keep up the culture of home being!! :)

I still remeber how wierd i used to feel during school and college when its this time. We are supposed to wear a thin yellow thread around our neck. The constant nag and questions from the other kids used to irritate me. I never used to like it. As i grew up, i got a concession. I dint have to wear it in the neck and the new rule of wearing in the hand was also fine!!

We are supposed to pray for the long living of our husbands and tie it around our necks. And when i wondered that we aren't married i was told to pray to get a good husband in life.

Something like the kaduva chauth in the north. But we dont fast [:P]

Its around evening when we normally start. There is a plate with 4 yellow threads, tied with a piece of turmeric and Lilly flowers in the centre. The thin ones are for me, sis and god and the thick one for amma.while she religiously prays for her husband and his life, we both stand there just gazing up and down and wait for our turns to tie the knot.
The best part comes when its all over. Yummy 'adai' with butter. its a special recipe that gets made only on that day of the year and hence its all special.
Aahh! i miss it.. now that i don't get it!
This year, though my efforts for it weren't much when i just cleaned up the pooja room and lit up the light there. I had the threads that i got from home. Both of us gathered in front of it and tied the thread around our hands.
I was done. Something atleast! Missed the adai' though.. :)
Somehow, all through that day , where ever i went i kept seeing women with a freshly tied yellow thread around their neck. I just subconsciously gave them a second look for reasons i dint know. may be i was thinking that they got to eat the adai that i missed!! :P

I couldnt help but borrow these pics from the net!!

Defining And Believing

In the holocaust of old believes and rituals by the advent of modernity and changing lifestyles, there still remain a few values which take rebirth. They continue to exist in the minds and hearts of some people who make the efforts to preserve these values. Its a cycle in the end, that brings us down to believe in little things for which we paid scant respect before. This is not about superstition nor it is about cliched attempts to debate on changing times.This is about believing in what is you, where you belong and what unique you carry from where your roots come.
It is extremely significant to go with the world, get accustomed to better ways of living, bring in new technology and contribute to issues that add value to the nation. But i think it is also important to make a little offering by time or thought to at least get aware to the most unique things about our present and past.Getting to know a little of 'Tradition'.
Indigine to a country that is rich in its ethinicity and that boasts of a diversity insignificant to many parts of the world, it is innate in many of us to carry that distinguishing factor. Though belonging to the same geographical region it is sometimes startling to believe that people could be so different. Even if a Dalmia grew up in madras or an Iyer in bombay, they could get completely native to that place they are in but at the same time live on to their believes and culture that they respect. They still love to adhere to their own traditional practises that belongs to their roots. That defines them and distinguishes them. Such is the beauty of this country.
For me personally, tradition means home. It takes me back to those little details that did not make a difference then but gets me thinking now. I am beginning to be in love with the early morning filter kaapi, the extravagant look a 'madisar podavai' can bring, temple jewellery (which i have been seeing quiet a lot in weddings now), the smell of smoke during an early morning 'ommam', the fragrance of mali and mullai on a festive day, kovil, carnatic music, T R Mahalingam and M S, thariyar sadam and vetthe kozhambu (traditional iyer food), kardiya nombu, navarathiri golu, tanjore paintings, Urili filled with water and flowers, brass vessels, the gopuram and peacock work zari on a silky pattu saree the maroon and green colours etc etc... i can think of a billion things and some where deep down they all have a connection to where i hail from and that holds good to every person who happens to carry a unique tradition from his roots. This is something that i consciously believe in and aspire to rejuvenate my level of maturity as i educate myself more in this area.This is a place to constantly update my relationship with understanding and experineces of culture and tryst with tradition.