Showing posts with label Festivals of Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Festivals of Life. Show all posts

1201, ചിങ്ങം, ഓണം, 2025

പ്രകൃതിയുടെ ഓണ-ഒരുക്കങ്ങൾ തുടങ്ങീട്ടോ 💚 മനുഷ്യരുടെ ഓണം മൂന്ന് ദിവസമാണെങ്കിൽ, പ്രകൃതിയുടെ മൂന്ന് മാസമാണല്ലോ! രാവിലെയൊന്നു പറമ്പിലേക്കിറങ്ങിയാ മതി, ഒരുക്കങ്ങൾ കാണാൻ….

കർക്കടകം തീരാനൊന്നും മുക്കുറ്റി കാത്തില്ല, ഓണമല്ലേ, നേരത്തേ തന്നെ ഒരുങ്ങിയിറങ്ങിയിങ്ങെത്തി!

കാവടിപൂവ് ഒരുങ്ങി വരാൻ തന്നെ വേണം ആറ് മാസം, പക്ഷേ ആദ്യമേയെത്തും, ഓണാഘോഷമെല്ലാം കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടേ പോവൂ!

അതിനിടക്ക് മഴയത്ത് വീണു കിടക്കുന്ന ഇവനെ പൊക്കി പുകച്ചാൽ, പത്തീരാണ്ട് പടച്ചിരിക്കും!

ഇവൻ ഇപ്പോ വല്യ പുള്ളിയാ, ഓണത്തിന് വരും, നമ്മളെ കണ്ട ഭാവമില്ല, പണ്ട് കല്ല് എടുപ്പിച്ച പരിഭവം തന്നെ!

പണ്ടത്തെ പോലെ കുതിര കളിക്കാൻ കൂട്ടുകാരാരുമിലെങ്കിലും, ഇവരിന്നും കുളിച്ചണിഞ്ഞൊരുങ്ങി കൂട്ടായി നിക്കും!


അപ്പൊ, ഇനി ഇറങ്ങാമല്ലോ പറമ്പിലോട്ട്? എല്ലാവരെയും ചെന്ന് കണ്ടു വിശേഷങ്ങളൊക്കെ ചോദിച്ച് വരണ്ടേ? വേഗമാവട്ടെ!

Thrissur Pooram - 2024 - Fireworks Night

Thrissur Pooram - 2024 - After wandering for the entire day and the evening immersed in Pooram vibes, it’s in the middle of the night Brijesh bro took us (myself and his other friends) to one of the best place in Thrissur town to watch the Pooram fireworks. It was on the terrace of a nine-floor building.

After walking through narrow roads and by-lanes, we reached the base of the building. Being a private property we had to clear the security pass and by the time we reached the top it was well past mid-night. As we entered the terrace, I was stunned to see a village of people -  old, young, children and women - all waiting eagerly there for the fireworks to happen later in the night!

The Wait!

Even in that night, the summer heat of April was tough on us, but the beautiful sky and the gentle breeze, along with the breathtaking view of Thrissur town greeted us with a lot of relief. Below, the endless crowd were seen flowing through the streets like lava from a live volcano! It is 1 am of the night and there in the open we stretched ourselves along with many hundreds, all eagerly anticipating for the fire-magic to appear in the sky at 4 am.

But shortly in a while, a news started to spread that there were some disputes happening down and fireworks will be delayed and may even get cancelled. Several woke up from sleep, many looked worried and uncomfortable but none of them left their position and all felt determined to continue the wait. I sat there wondering how intense is this passion which probably could be seen only among this fiercely festive passionate Thrissur crowd!


The Long Wait!

In a while I slipped into tired sleep, and when I opened my eyes it was 6 am, with the open sky greeting me with beautiful morning hues and morning breeze. But there are no fireworks yet, neither any magic has happened other than the beautiful sunrise!

Brijesh and his friends, had not slept a bit, and I saw them strolling on the terrace, going through news updates, talking to people, looking tense and worried! Would the fireworks happen?

The Unending wait testing the patience of all!

Finally, there came the update that the fireworks would start at 6:30 am. The wait continued, but even after 6:45 am, nothing started. Another update came, stating it would start at 7 am. The wait became longer, the sun starting to heat up our tired bodies. Even after 7 am, nothing moved other than a gentle breeze.

It was when the frustration reached its peak, by around 7:10 am, the first burst of fireworks shook us! The entire crowd woke up, all rising on their toes, their face gleaming in joy, their eyes staring towards the bright sky!

For the next fifteen minutes, we were all taken to a magical world of light and sound — though the sun swallowed the colors, the magic of resonating rumble and lustrous fire was enough to make the crowd go crazy and finally, at its peak, I saw all of those around me screaming in heavenly joy, bringing their year-long wait to an end, making every moment of their sleepless night worth it!

For me, the intensity of all that hot and humid that I went through the day and night filled up yet another page of extraordinary experiences of life, closing it on a colour-ful and fire-ful note!

Clouds disappearing into sky after fireworks!

Nochur!


Nochur Bhagavathy procession to the Theru


19/Jan/24: As we turn onto a sub-road at Kuzhalmannam on the speeding NH544 from Thrissur to Palakkad, the surroundings suddenly seem to settle down, relax and breathe easy. After another 10 km drive, covering the modest village of Koduvayur and its angady, a narrow road takes us to the humble surroundings of Nochur, which houses a relatively small agraharam of the Tamil Brahmin community who had migrated to Kerala centuries ago.

We, as an ad hoc plan, are here for the annual chariot festival (Ratholsavam/Theru) at Nochur Bhagavathy (Shanthi Durga Parameswari) temple, which falls on the first Friday of the Tamil Thai month (Jan/Feb). It is along this Bhagavathy temple and an adjacent Krishna temple that the Nochur agraharam is lined up.

It is only on these festive days that this otherwise silent gramam springs up with its effervescent energy. Being present on this auspicious day attending the rituals followed by the annadanam, which serves the divine payasam (commonly known as chathu-shatham), turned into a blissful experience for all of us. 

However, it would have been incomplete without a walk through the agraharam. That wish of ours also got fulfilled by visiting the ancestral agraharam home of our friend Sobha. A walk around the house which has rooms older than two centuries, an old kitchen which once served the entire gramam, the thick wooden doors with unique locks all took us back to a completely different world which thrived once upon a time! 

Of all, the short time we got listening to the anecdotes from Sobha’s in-laws turned out to be precious. 

Nochur had more than 75 traditional agraharam homes a few decades back which has now depleted to around 30, and even among them, a very few families stay here. The rest come down only during the festive season.” 

We noticed this at Sobha’s home. Relatives who came from Palakkad, Mumbai, and even the US, just for this festival, all taking their festive nap in various rooms!

As we stepped out and walked around the Nochur gramam, we saw the scars of pain this once-pristine village is facing in the form of crumbled structures and deserted homes. A heritage tag like that of Kalpathy would have probably saved some of these, but now this agraharam needs more hands (than brain or money) to pull it up and preserve its identity.

A 'Rope' of Hope!


“Nochur, with the divine blessings of Vedanta Sampradaya Acharya Pujya Sri Ramanacharana Tirtha Swamiji, has got its spirituality tag. And then there is the divine ‘rope’ of hope always there, ready to be picked up. We wish the Nochur diaspora, who always keep their agraharam and its culture close to their hearts, realise it and come back again to pick and pull it ahead. That is the way, in fact, that is the only way this authentic culture and traditions of Nochur could be preserved for posterity!”