An Honest Thiruvathira Confession

Greetings to all those lovely Malayalee women who are celebrating Thiruvathira.

Essentially a ladies' festival, while most of the customs and rituals followed in olden times have become extinct due to obvious reasons, I find that, by and large, the spirit of this festival is maintained even today.

Come Thiruvathira, and my mother starts off on a nostalgic trip. She travels back to a time when Thiruvathira was celebrated with a lot more enthusiasm.

The day started well before dawn, with a group of family members consisting of ladies and children setting off towards the village pond to bathe in its wintry waters, singing special rhythmic songs and starting the day on a happy note. The early morning visit to the Shiva temple, along with other ladies — siblings, cousins and friends — was something they looked forward to.

Rice and rice products were abstained from, and the diet was kept simple, with wheat items like upma or kanji, accompanied by a puzhukku — a dish made of tubers, red cowpeas, raw banana, coconut and so on — and fried pappadam.

The highlight of the meal was the sweet prepared from fresh arrowroot powder, jaggery and coconut scrapings, called Koova Payasam. The meal was served on fresh green plantain leaves in a very auspicious manner.

Afternoons usually saw groups of ladies assembled in the tharavadu for the Thiruvathirakali session.

In her aged mind, all the fun and gaiety she used to be a part of, first as a child and later as a young woman, are still fresh.

I have a confession to make.

I do have fond childhood memories of a Thiruvathira spent with cousins and relatives in the same village, but I don't share the same enthusiasm as my mother when it comes to observing the rituals.

Today, Thiruvathira seems to be more about draping myself in a Kerala saree to go to the workplace, and gorging on hot chapathis and yummy aloo gobi for lunch instead of the mundane rice and sambar.

Thiruvathirakali being telecast on TV doesn't interest me, and I have absolutely no idea what all plants constitute the Dashapushpam. As for waking up at an unearthly hour in the morning to bathe… heaven forbid!

I seriously do not have the time or inclination in the morning to cut up all those tubers and vegetables to prepare puzhukku, which is hardly a personal favourite. I do relish the sweet and sticky Koova Payasam, but no force on earth can make me take up the laborious process of converting fresh arrowroot into powder form and finally stand for hours in front of the cooking stove, stirring the mixture to its gooey perfection.

… I salute my mother and all the ladies who still go about all these tasks cheerfully.

But I am sorry, it just isn't my cup of tea.

Maybe I am getting to a point where I have started disregarding a lot of our traditional customs and rituals for the sake of convenience.

Perhaps it has got to do with the fact that, unlike the previous era, there is no ‘fun’ element anymore, since most of the festivals are celebrated alone, sans the company of children, siblings, cousins, extended family or friends.

Perhaps I detest moving away from my set schedules and lifestyle, even if it is for a single day.

Or perhaps I am just too plain lazy!