Til gul ghya ... goad goad bhola ....

Thats what the Marathi people say on Sankranti day. Which when translated means "Have these sesame sweets and speak sweet words". Of course, the Tamilians celebrate பொஙல் (Pongal) in a much grander version with "பொஙலோ பொஙல்" (Pongalo Pongal) echoing everywhere. It is a 4 day festival dedicated to the Sun God or Surya Bhagavan. The first day, called Bhogi, is for cleaning the whole house and throwing out and burning of all unwanted things, which signifies the coming of the new year. The second day, or the main Pongal day, is when the Sun God is worshipped for his life giving rays and for making the soil fertile. The third day is called Mattu Pongal, the festival of cattle, when farmers worship their cattle for giving them milk and helping them out in the fields. Its the day when the traditional ஜல்லிக்கட்டு (Jallikattu or bull fight) happens, where money bags are tied to the horns of ferocious bulls and the youth of the village fight with them and claim their prize. The last day is called Thiruvalluvar day in honour of the famous Tamil pulavar.

Even though Pongal is predominatly a farmer's festival, its celebrated in gaiety by everybody. Its one of the two major festive seasons of Tamil Nadu, Deepavali and Pongal. With 4 days off from work and other worries, people enjoy the break and go on a shopping spree. The shopkeepers too, sensing the huge market opportunity, offer large discounts.

So, you might ask, what special did I do on Pongal day ? Well, though I could not cook Pongal in our house, the least I could do was to wear our traditional dress of veshti to office. :) Me and Subbu (my roommate), wore a nice clean veshti after reaching office. There were lots of surprised looks here and there when we went for lunch, but the response was definitely positive. There was even a female employee, a proper Iyer, who couldn't stop smiling (that too for a full minute) on seeing us. I still don't know whether she was genuinely amused on seeing us wear veshtis, or whether we looked like jokers to her.

Our company has a tradition of having a kite fest on the Sankranti day in the terraces of all our buildings. Initially, we had thought of not wearing veshtis during the kite fest, as it might be 'dangerous', what with all the running around and strong winds. But, after the enthusiastic response, we decided to take the plunge. :) We went to the terrace with trepidation, fearing the worst. Again, surprised looks. Once we had taken the plunge, there was no looking back. We enthusiastically started flying kites, though I didnt know a thing about kite flying. Subbu was the one who lifted the kites high up the air. I just held the string for some time, flying the kite here and there, learning some funds from Subbu about controlling a kite. I must say, it is a tough job as the kite pulls at the string and the manja (the string) can easily cut your hands if you are not careful. It was a truly wonderful and fun filled experience though. Fun filled, due to the healthy challenges of who can cut whose kite. We lost our first kite pretty early in the evening. After that, we lost some time trying to float a new kite as there was hardly any breeze. Eventually, we did manage to fly one kite and at one stage, ours was the one flying far above all the rest. :) With the sun setting and only 2 kites left, we decided to 'do or die' by challenging our opposite floor colleagues. After some fight, sadly, we again lost :(

After about 2 hours of 'high flying', we returned to ground level really tired, exhausted and heads slightly aching. Needless to say, not much work happened that day. Will post the snaps as soon as I get hold of them.

Got up late today, watched 'Pardes' movie on cable and came to office. Its yet another weekend and time to enjoy !! :)

Listening to : Yeh Shaam mastani (Kati Patang)