Hey there......nine nights of pomp and show. Navarathri is here! Wish you all a very happy Navarathri. I have been really busy since Gokulastmi. Shankranthi, Gokulashtmi and Navarathri are the biggest festivals for us Iyengars. We celebrate these on a grand scale. Back home, it's different......lots of people to share the festivities, lots of fragrant flowers to adorn the dieties as well as yourself. Well....as the saying goes "count your blessings.." I'm happy to be able to keep our culture alive and kicking.
We have a tradition of exhibiting dolls, otherwise known as GOLU. I have always kept 3 steps or padis. This year I have kept five. That means more dolls. The tradition is to keep Golu every year since the time you are married. To start of, parents of the bride give a set of special dolls called "MARAPACHI BOMMAI" or "PATTADA BOMBE", which simply means dolls made out of a wood which is medicinal in property. It's very symbolic, and is given to a daughter when she gets married. It symbolises 'fertility'. So from then on, the daughter has to follow the tradition of exhibiting dolls during navarathri and keep adding on dolls every year.
I brought with me to the US only the Pattada Bombe. Here I started collecting dolls from dollar stores. Every time I visit India I make it a point to bring back some traditional dolls. So to sum it up, I have a pretty good collection which I intend to improve.
I will be posting the photos of the golu in a few days with some recipes. So please bear with me for some more time and I promise I'll not wander off. SEE YOU SOON.......
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Hope you having fun with the Golu. I tried your bisibele, it was the best ever...do check out the pics on my blog- all credit goes to you for posting the recipe and your mom in law for sharing with you
Hi Sangeetha,
For the last few days I have been searching a lot for some ideas on how to create a natural looking park with the raagi seeds for the gombe/golu. I Don't have much of an idea about all this since my mum's house they don't have this tradition but in-laws do and hence trying it out for the first time.
During my search for some pictures of golu parks,I stumbeled on your website . Good one.
Have you made a park for the gombe habba? If so,any tips that you can share? Will be glad to see your gombe pictures. Have a wonderful dassera.
sorry,I am not sure if your name is sangeetha or Saakshi.
Hey Sandhya,
Thanks for looking. I will be glad to help you with ideas....I also went thru so many sites searching for ideas but only chennaionline was a help. I have made a park and a village scene. It's really easy. Since we do not get ragi here, I had to recreate that feeling of a natural looking park with colored sand. But if u can grow ragi, nothing like it....so take a tray or the base whatever ur using for the park, layer the areas which u want with wet soil, sprinkle ragi evenly and leave it untouched. It takes 2-3 days to germinate i guess. I'm not sure about this coz it's been a long time since i stopped using ragi, so u might be able to find info on that on the internet.
I took a wood plank,layered green sand on the areas i wanted grass, kept some trees, people, a few chairs and tables. made a pond with a bridge over it. I'll send u a picture of it to ur email if u want.
hope this helps, i'll be happy to help you with anything else. happy navrathri.
By the way....my real name is Sangeetha but really like the name Saakshi...hence my email ids are all saakshi. Call me either.
I remember the Bombes, some of my friends used to arrange those, invite people over to look at them!! Can;t wait!!
Sure Gollu is fun. Apart from having at your home, a look at other's & their ideas is interesting & not to mention all the variety of Sundals !! Looking forward to see your pictures.
Hi Sangeetha,
Thanks for all the information. Sorry,I couldn't reply immediately. I did set up the park with raagi seeds. It came out well and looks beautiful. If possible, I will try to post the pictures.
Your Janmastami pictures look great and very well decorated. Looking forward for your Gombe pictures...!
Hi sangeetha,
i tried ur bisibelebath,it was really good.Everyone liked it very much.thanks for sharing.
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