Looking back at Coimbatore,the music of the devotional songs from the nearby temples, the decorations and the colourful garlands outside the temples, the rustling of the glittering silk and semi silk sarees of the women folk, their hair adorned with Malligai Poo, a sight very common on the road,in the commuters to work and also at work, people thronging with the Vettrilai, Pakku, Pazham and Thengai to the temples in the evening, are more than enough to declare that the Friday must be a special Friday like Adi Velli.
Thousands of miles across the oceans from our place, as long as we are inside the house , everything is very much Indian, to be true, very much like Tamil Nadu,even Coimbatore with the same food,all the items A- Z, from Vazhaipoo, Vazhai Thandu, Murungaikeerai available at the 5 or 6 Indian stores within a radius of 3 kms, all the Tamil Programmes telecast by the popular Tamil Satellite channels, the Poojas performed for all the festivals at home, inviting the ladies for Thamboolam on auspicious days can bring a festive fervour inside the house but never the ambiance of the parts of our country interwoven with the celebrations of not only Adi Velli but any religious or national festival.
But we made it to the local Hindu temple, at a drive of 20 minutes on the first Adi Velli, which also happened to be the first day of the Tamil month, Adi.
Adi is also the month, when people offer Adi Kouzh to Amman and distribute it to the devotees.My mother, an Octogenarian with an unflinching courage enjoyed the prerogative of preparing a very big pot of Koozh with the aid of the maids and offered it to the people with the Murungai Keerai, which is said to be the combination for the porridge in Chennai.
This year is the inauguration of the offering of the Adi gruel by my mom. For years, Annadanam is offered at our door steps on the occasion of the Arupathu Moovar Thiruvizha, a rare celebration of the 63 Nayanmars at the Shiva Temples but a grand festival of the Kapaleeswarar temple in Chennai.With the falling of this festival on convenient days in the year make me take off from my work to go to Chennai and enjoy the Thiruvizha.
Next year, let me be a part of this Adi Festival with my mom in Chennai and invoke the blessings of the Goddess.
Thousands of miles across the oceans from our place, as long as we are inside the house , everything is very much Indian, to be true, very much like Tamil Nadu,even Coimbatore with the same food,all the items A- Z, from Vazhaipoo, Vazhai Thandu, Murungaikeerai available at the 5 or 6 Indian stores within a radius of 3 kms, all the Tamil Programmes telecast by the popular Tamil Satellite channels, the Poojas performed for all the festivals at home, inviting the ladies for Thamboolam on auspicious days can bring a festive fervour inside the house but never the ambiance of the parts of our country interwoven with the celebrations of not only Adi Velli but any religious or national festival.
But we made it to the local Hindu temple, at a drive of 20 minutes on the first Adi Velli, which also happened to be the first day of the Tamil month, Adi.
Adi is also the month, when people offer Adi Kouzh to Amman and distribute it to the devotees.My mother, an Octogenarian with an unflinching courage enjoyed the prerogative of preparing a very big pot of Koozh with the aid of the maids and offered it to the people with the Murungai Keerai, which is said to be the combination for the porridge in Chennai.
This year is the inauguration of the offering of the Adi gruel by my mom. For years, Annadanam is offered at our door steps on the occasion of the Arupathu Moovar Thiruvizha, a rare celebration of the 63 Nayanmars at the Shiva Temples but a grand festival of the Kapaleeswarar temple in Chennai.With the falling of this festival on convenient days in the year make me take off from my work to go to Chennai and enjoy the Thiruvizha.
Next year, let me be a part of this Adi Festival with my mom in Chennai and invoke the blessings of the Goddess.
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