CHANDIGARH: Away from home, Pongal and Uttarayani are celebrated in not so true Tamil or Uttaranchal style but with a dash of innovation to it. It may not be that original but the spirit remains as high as ever.
These away-from-home communities have settled here for long and adapted in their own way. For instance, the sweets which are given to crows in Uttarakhand during Uttarayani, the harvest season, are distributed in the neighbourhood as crows seldom found here. While Pongal is fading its true essence of rangoli-making, the community feast and dishes is what the festival is all about now.
There are around 60,000 people from Uttarakhand in the Tricity. Bachan Singh Nagarkoti, president of the Kumaon Sabha in Chandigarh said, In our hometown, Uttarayani is celebrated for three days. There is a massive fair on the first day when ghughutia is cooked. Ghughutia is a sweet made out of flour mixed with gur and fried as round balls. These sweet balls are strung around as necklace on children. The next day early in the morning crows are called to eat ghughutia. This symbolizes welcoming all the migratory birds, who fly back after their winter sojourn, said Nagarkoti.
But calling crows here does not work, as Nagarkoti says, so we distribute the sweet as gift items within our community. While Uttarayani gets a different flavour in the city, Pongal celebrations have also been undergoing changes gradually. The festival implies that everything is new. At home, we cook new rice in newly ripened sugarcane.
But this is not possible in Chandigarh. So we have been managing with whatever is available, said S Ekambaram, vice-president, Tamil Association, Chandigarh.
Also, rangoli-making is gradually fading away as markets have paper rangolis. The excitement is slowly withering and not many decorate home with rangoli. My grandmother used to make rangolis. Now we do not see this in many households in the city, said Ekambaram.
Dance performances like poikkal kuthirai (the performer dresses and pretends as if he is riding a dummy horse) and karakattam (dance with pots on head) will be organised by the association in Sector 47 on Sunday.
Read more: Innovation is the name of festivals here - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Innovation-is-the-name-of-festivals-here/articleshow/7288203.cms#ixzz1B5MHMCWz
These away-from-home communities have settled here for long and adapted in their own way. For instance, the sweets which are given to crows in Uttarakhand during Uttarayani, the harvest season, are distributed in the neighbourhood as crows seldom found here. While Pongal is fading its true essence of rangoli-making, the community feast and dishes is what the festival is all about now.
There are around 60,000 people from Uttarakhand in the Tricity. Bachan Singh Nagarkoti, president of the Kumaon Sabha in Chandigarh said, In our hometown, Uttarayani is celebrated for three days. There is a massive fair on the first day when ghughutia is cooked. Ghughutia is a sweet made out of flour mixed with gur and fried as round balls. These sweet balls are strung around as necklace on children. The next day early in the morning crows are called to eat ghughutia. This symbolizes welcoming all the migratory birds, who fly back after their winter sojourn, said Nagarkoti.
But calling crows here does not work, as Nagarkoti says, so we distribute the sweet as gift items within our community. While Uttarayani gets a different flavour in the city, Pongal celebrations have also been undergoing changes gradually. The festival implies that everything is new. At home, we cook new rice in newly ripened sugarcane.
But this is not possible in Chandigarh. So we have been managing with whatever is available, said S Ekambaram, vice-president, Tamil Association, Chandigarh.
Also, rangoli-making is gradually fading away as markets have paper rangolis. The excitement is slowly withering and not many decorate home with rangoli. My grandmother used to make rangolis. Now we do not see this in many households in the city, said Ekambaram.
Dance performances like poikkal kuthirai (the performer dresses and pretends as if he is riding a dummy horse) and karakattam (dance with pots on head) will be organised by the association in Sector 47 on Sunday.
Read more: Innovation is the name of festivals here - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Innovation-is-the-name-of-festivals-here/articleshow/7288203.cms#ixzz1B5MHMCWz
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