Hindu and Diwali

I always enjoyed the sound of the crackers on Diwali and I have fired them every year.  I know if you are a Hindu then most probably you also do the  same thing every year on the occasion of the Diwali, which is celebrated exactly after 20 days from the celebration of the Dussehra. 

If you want to know what is Diwali then I will tell you that this is a Hindu festival which is celebrated on the occasion of the warm welcome of return of lord Ram to his own kingdom after he killed the Ravan who has stolen his wife Seeta. All this happened in the Ramayana an ancient Sanskrit epic. The people of Ayodhya lighted the city with the lamps that night.

Now people celebrate it every year with a little modification. They do all the cleanings of the home, put new paint to their home, and they give away the old useless things and buy new ones. On the day of diwali they cook a number of dishes and light the candles at the night. The home looks most beautiful this time of the year.

The firing of the cracker is most attractive part for the children and also for most of the gents. I think it was not written in Ramayana to fire the cracks but people has started it all by themselves. 

Reasons for no Crackers on Diwali

It was hard for me to stop myself from firing the crackers on the occasion of the Diwali because I have done it every year since my childhood but when I knew the harmful affects of this act I had to leave it. I decided not to fire crackers due to the following reasons:

1. It costs me money which I can use for some other useful purposes like I can buy atleast a shirt from that money.
2. It produces the harmful gases which will pollute our already polluted environment.
3. There are chances of accidents like fire hazards and if you want the confirmation then tune to the news channel next day after the Diwali.
4. The noise of the crackers may lead to personal injuries with your hand, eyes, and ears.

One may become blind, deaf or handicapped if they are careless with the crackers. 

Reasons to fire crackers on Diwali

There are no reason to fire the crackers on the Diwali. The only people who will disagree with me on this line are those who either are manufacturer of it or who are retailers of crackers.  If you judge this being a good human being then you will take my side. 

So my point is that you should celebrate the Diwali without the fire crackers and you will get the good results. Instead buy the sweets or anything useful you want.

Happy Safe Diwali.

As the month approaches November people are eagerly waiting for the Diwali to burst the crackers, lit sparklers, decorate their homes with lights, and of course enjoy the sweets. But to the people belonging to the Meitei community of Manipur there is another important reason to look forward to diwali celebration. And it is for the celebration of ‘Ningol Chakkouba’ which usually falls on second day after diwali. 

What is Ningol Chakkouba?

Though there isn't any equivalent English word for Ningol, its meaning is something like ’female born to a particular clan’ and chakkouba means ‘inviting for a feast’.  So Ningol Chakkouba literally means the feast for the female and is dedicated to the daughters and aunts of the family. It is not a religious festival but celebrates the love between the brothers and sisters. This day is particularly special for the married women as they are treated to a special feast by their parents and brothers. 

How it started?

It is believed that once Queen Leisana who was the wife of King Pakhangba , one of the important kings of Manipur invited her brother for a feast. This led to a ritual in which married women invited their brothers for an annual feast. However it led to problems when a brother is invited by many sisters at a same time. So when the Chandrakirti Maharaj faced the same situation, he changed the ritual and instead invited all his sisters for the feast. Since then, it has become a tradition for the brothers to invite their sisters for the meal on this day.

How it is celebrated:

Though it falls on the second day after diwali, its preparation begins a long way back. The family members do a hectic shopping for the gifts to be presented on that day. Gifts have to be bought for all the sisters and the daughters of the family, their children and sometimes the adopted sisters and daughters. By adopted I don’t mean the legally adopted ones but those who share a warm and close relationship and so are treated like one’s own daughters and sisters.

A day or two before Ningol Chakkouba, one of the brothers or nephew would visit the married daughters. There, he would formally invite the sister or aunt as the case may be for the feast.  It is customary to give a betal leaf and some pieces of betal nuts placed on a piece of banana leaf while inviting her to come for the feast without fail.

On the actual day of the feast, the married sister would come for the feast wearing silk clothes. She doesn’t come empty handed. It is customary to bring lots of fruits like apples, banana, dry coconuts, oranges etc along with rasgulla, barfi, gulab jamun and other such sweets etc. Usually, her children also accompany her. When she reaches her home, the eatables are distributed to the close neighbours as well. 

At home, everybody would be busy preparing for the feast.  As the sisters-in-law also have to get ready fto visit their home, in most cases the brothers would do the cooking himself with some help from other members . It is customary to include the fish curry in the menu. So if Ningol chakkouba falls on Thursday, some people prefer to postpone it by a day or so as many people strictly eat vegetarian meals on Thursday.

After the meal, there is another ritual to be followed. The sisters are made to sit on a mat facing north direction as it is considered auspicious. Each of the brothers would then gift her something and seek her blessings. Traditionally clothes like shawl, traditional wraparounds, saree like clothes that women drape around are given as gifts. But with the change in the trends, many people opt to give household items like utensils, crockery items etc. The gifts are placed on a big flat plate like thing called shengaa and offered to the sisters. The shengaa is covered with pieces of banana leaves before the gifts are placed on it. Along with the gifts, a 10 rupee note or a 50 rupee note is also placed on the shengaa. While accepting the gifts, the sisters bless the brothers to live a long and prosperous life.

In short, though the sisters visit their brothers and have meals together on other occasions too, having meals together on the Ningol Chakkouba Day is something special as it signifies the love between the brothers and sisters.

Like every Keralite, Vishu is special to me too - something connecting me to old days of celebrations and prosperity. When I am remembering my past Vishu celebrations to write something, my childhood days just flashed through my mind in a fraction of seconds. So, let me say a few words about my childhood Vishu memories.

A 50 paise or 1 rupee coin and my mother’s Vishukani preparations are the most memorable things of my childhood days. She used to prepare Kani every year and wake up me and my younger brother to see decorated Krishna in the early mornings. Then we two compete to get coin from her hands. We used to receive coins from our neighbours and relatives too, that we used to keep with ourselves for a long time. Since it’s vacation time, we were in full celebration mode. Let me come back.
After marriage, for the last 6 years we are away from our home town. So, obviously it’s my duty to prepare Vishu kani for my family which I am doing for the past few years. We are 3 – me, my husband and our daughter of 5 years. Let me tell you how we celebrated Vishu last year.

Tulsi garland for Kannan

I know well, Krishna loves tulsi a lot. Tulsi is abundant in our courtyard. So, in the evening I collected all tulsi leaves from those plants and made a nice ‘Thulsi haaram’ for him. I was thinking about him only while I was making the garland, felt immense pleasure too as I was doing such a thing for the first time in my life. Usually I buy a garland from outside.

Our Vishu purchases

Last year as usual, Vishu was celebrated on April 14. It’s Medam 1st in Malayalam calendar and new year in Tamil calendar. We made two purchases – one for our vegetarian meal known as Sadya and other for Vishu kani. Let me tell you about our kani preparations. In the evening just one day before, we went out for a purchase. Celebrations had already started in the town with crackers and shoutings. So, we too purchased some crackers for our daughter. Then we stepped into the main town. Big crowd everywhere. We went to a garland shop to purchase some jasmine and nerium. Then we went to a fruit market and bought apples, oranges, mangoes, bananas and a few more fruits. But we couldn’t get a pine apple. Then I checked my list to confirm if I missed anything. Then we entered a vegetable shop to buy pumpkin and green mangoes. Again I missed two most important things – cucumber and jack fruit. Yet thought, we can adjust with what we get. We bought a new Kerala dhoti also. We returned home a little late. 

Getting Kanikonna is the biggest task

It’s very difficult to get ‘Konnapoo’ (casina) for vishu celebrations. During season, we can see cassia flowers everywhere. But just a day before Vishu, more than 90% of those flowers disappear from the trees. So, if we don’t have a cassia tree at our home, we need to search outside from some friends’ home or buy at high rate from flower market. Nowadays instant kit of ‘Vishukani’ items is available ready in the market.  It will contain a few raw mangoes, cucumber, a few jasmines, one apple or orange and a few cassia flowers. If you want to make a simple Vishukani, you can choose an instant kit. Before 1 month itself, we arranged our cassia flowers at a friend’s home and we got it one day before Vishu. So, our main problem was solved. Next day, flowers will dry a little. Yet, it’s a pleasant scene to watch Krishna smiling along with tired cassia flowers.

My kaniorukkal at late night

I waited till all went to sleep, had a bath and went upstairs with offerings for Krishna. I knew I missed some important things. Yet, I felt happy for preparing garland with my own hands. At first I began to decorate Krishna with flowers. We bought a marigold garland too. So, I decorated Krishna with two garlands and a few cassia flowers. We don’t have Krishna’s idol. So, I had to satisfy with Krishna’s photo. Then I placed my brass container, ‘uruli’ before him and arranged all vegetables and fruits in such a way that all fruits are visible. Then I took our mirror and placed it near Krishna. Then I placed ‘kodi’ dhoti, a few gold ornaments, coins, currency notes and a few cassia fruits before the mirror. It took almost 1 hour and my work was almost completed. Then I took my sindoor bottle and placed it near him. Before I left, I lit the lamp and placed coconut halves too filled with some cassia flowers. When I left the pooja room, it was already 12pm.

Our Vishukani

I wake up early in the morning, around 5 and as soon as I wake up, praying Krishna in my mind, closed my eyes. Then slowly I went upstairs. It’s a bit difficult to go through the steps with eyes closed. When I entered the pooja room, I could feel the sweet aroma spread all around – of flowers, perfumes and fruits. I opened my eyes in front of Krishna and in a quick glance, my eyes went through everything. I saw my face reflected in the mirror and prayed for the happiness of my family and everyone I love. Then I lit agarbathi and pierced them in banana, burned a little camphor and left the room.
Next I brought my husband up to the pooja room, carrying my daughter in hand. We three together had a prosperous Vishu kani. He took a few notes from the offerings and gave it to my child as Vishu kaineettam. I kissed her cheek – it was my gift for her. Earlier, when she was a small kid, she used to ask me fruits to eat. But now she is grown up. After spending a little time there, we returned downstairs.

Preparations for Vishu sadya

Earlier itself, we had decided to have a simple Sadya of 5 side dishes and 3 curries. So, very less kitchen works for me. I made a curd mango, a cabbage thoran, pachadi, avail, daal, sambar, pulissery, curd milk, a payasam and pappad. It was so simple, yet we enjoyed it a lot.

Evening with crackers

In the evening, we celebrated Vishu with crackers inviting kids of neighbourhood too. As my father is doing fireworks business, I am not at all interested in crackers from childhood. Yet, I could see that enjoyment in my daughter’s eyes.

A few words about Vishu

As Onam, Vishu is also a harvest festival. But Vishnu is worshipped as a part of its celebrations. Most significant is Vishukani – an offering of fruits, vegetables and flowers to Lord Krishna and seeing him decorated in the early Vishu morning. Elders give gifts to young ones, most significant is coins. Then a vegetarian meal is prepared with some special Vishu dishes and later in the evening, a lot of cheers with crackers. This festival gives the message of unity and prosperity and celebrating the event with offerings from our own fields.

This is written by my daughter and with her permission I am submitting here.

Greenland (Sabuj ban)

This is a unforgettable experience of mine which I want to share with all. This is not an advertisement.

Recently I have gone for a tour in Greenland near Shantiniketan in Bhirbhum.This place is famous for Shantiniketan of Gurudev Rabindranath Thakur and Rabindra bharati University where once Indira Ghandhi were a student.

So many have gone to Shantiniketan to visit,But in this winter please go to Greenland(in Bengali-Sabujban).From Bolpur and keeping behind Shantiniketan it is situated in rurh Bangla with a nice and silent atmosphere in West Bengal.This tourist spot was created bu famous nature lover Abdus Salim. Greenland has many trees near about hundred types around this with a small lake in center. Many huts are situated here,which looks like a hut but it has all modern facilities inside.Visitors stay there.

Red village road with many palm trees in series will attack you. In one side Ajoy river with kash flower (tall species of grass used for mat) and in other side green field for cultivation situated. All this long field is full of vegetables now. Visitors are eaten with these vegetables and rice.The menu also cover with many types of fish from local pond and cost is very minimum.One Orchard is also in there with many flowers like rose of many colors,tulip,marigold,balsam etc.Some extra visible place like some local temples, the palace of ancient king,art and cultural museum are also there.

How will you go there?

By train, from Howrah Ganadebata express,Shantiniketan express or from Sealdah Kolkata Rampurhat Maa Tara Express are available. First go to Bolpur station and from there many cars of Sabujban project are available to go and the distance is only nine Killometers.

.Marketing:-Local fair is held daily with many handmade things which attract visitors deeply. Many hand made ornaments,dalls,potteries,vases bed covers,stone made utensils and many things are available.

One thing don’t forget to take your identity proof and mosquito coil in the journey.And use of plastic carry bags and loudness are strictly prohibited.