Golu
Mom always rued the fact that she did not have a girl child during Dassara. She thought if she had had a daughter, we could have had a Golu like all other poor Brahmin families (display of clay dolls mostly... of gods and their rides.)
Suren and I were primarily interested in visiting every damn house in Greamspet during Golu time. We came back with a lot of Sundal (baked, spiced peas seasoned with mustard seeds.) The Chetty homes made the best Sundal. They added tiny slices of Mango and grated Coconut in it. We ate so much Sundal that we farted perennially. Preeen! Puf! Plift! And, if when we got lucky "Bbbrrrooommmm!" But the deadliest of them all had no sound. It is the muted killer. Nisabdham, Praana Sankatam!
I guess when I was in Fourth class, mom decided to have a Golu. Daughter or not. If you are wondering why a mother with no daughters can't have a Golu... Well, the tradition is that the women invited each other to their respective Golus and gifted each other blouse bits along with Vermilion, Yellow Banana, and Beetel leaves. It is totally a girl thing. Anyway, that year we went shopping for dolls and bought lots of them. We dug some earth and sowed Ragi seeds. When they sprouted, we planted the farmer and his bulls on a ploughshare. It was a pretty neat idea. We also planned to decorate the Golu on the wooden display rack with serial lights but mom dumped the idea. I had just started playing with electricity and I was blowing the fuse at consistent intervals.
Mom warned us that we couldn't afford to unleash the muted killer farts and chase our guests away. So no Sundal in our own home for me and Suren. Mom's Golu was a smash hit. My dad burnt a few hundred Rupees grudgingly. We gave away a lot of blouse bits that time. We moved to Chennai next year and forget a Golu, we didn't have space for ourselves in our Chennai home. And of course the landlord banned Golus. He thought it was some sort of a Pagan routine. May he rot in hell. So the memory of Golu faded away. We grew up into handsome young men. Ok, I won't push it. We grew up and got busy with the vicissitudes of life. We got girls. We married. And now I have a feeling Suren's going to have a Golu next year. And guess what I am going to do next year? Yeah! You guessed it. Muted Killers at Suren's. Here we come!
Suren and I were primarily interested in visiting every damn house in Greamspet during Golu time. We came back with a lot of Sundal (baked, spiced peas seasoned with mustard seeds.) The Chetty homes made the best Sundal. They added tiny slices of Mango and grated Coconut in it. We ate so much Sundal that we farted perennially. Preeen! Puf! Plift! And, if when we got lucky "Bbbrrrooommmm!" But the deadliest of them all had no sound. It is the muted killer. Nisabdham, Praana Sankatam!
I guess when I was in Fourth class, mom decided to have a Golu. Daughter or not. If you are wondering why a mother with no daughters can't have a Golu... Well, the tradition is that the women invited each other to their respective Golus and gifted each other blouse bits along with Vermilion, Yellow Banana, and Beetel leaves. It is totally a girl thing. Anyway, that year we went shopping for dolls and bought lots of them. We dug some earth and sowed Ragi seeds. When they sprouted, we planted the farmer and his bulls on a ploughshare. It was a pretty neat idea. We also planned to decorate the Golu on the wooden display rack with serial lights but mom dumped the idea. I had just started playing with electricity and I was blowing the fuse at consistent intervals.
Mom warned us that we couldn't afford to unleash the muted killer farts and chase our guests away. So no Sundal in our own home for me and Suren. Mom's Golu was a smash hit. My dad burnt a few hundred Rupees grudgingly. We gave away a lot of blouse bits that time. We moved to Chennai next year and forget a Golu, we didn't have space for ourselves in our Chennai home. And of course the landlord banned Golus. He thought it was some sort of a Pagan routine. May he rot in hell. So the memory of Golu faded away. We grew up into handsome young men. Ok, I won't push it. We grew up and got busy with the vicissitudes of life. We got girls. We married. And now I have a feeling Suren's going to have a Golu next year. And guess what I am going to do next year? Yeah! You guessed it. Muted Killers at Suren's. Here we come!
Labels: anecdotes, slice of life
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6 Comments:
He he.. Really nice to read your article on the Golu.. Having a golu here in Bangalore is a feast to many eyes cuz its rare that people celebrate Navaratri the way we do.. Felt good to be reminded of my childhood days and the tradition of having golus.. Thanks.. :-)
apart from the slices of life, i have just this thing to say. dussera happens in october, now where at this point of time would you find raw mongo to grate and put in the fart generating sundal???
that apart, i remember going with my mom long years ago to see the doll display. they used to have he-man, gi joe barbie doll et all.
then i grew up.
mango*
I am hear after a long time to be overwhelmed reading your post of Golu. We never had Golu at our home. But I use to help a Mami in the neighborhood every year during my teenage. It was good. I dont remember whether I had problems of farting though. We dont plan to have Golu now at our home, but sure every year we visit our close friends who keep Golu.
Man... these blouse bits. Comes in all colours. But one would always feel like having seen 'it' before. Yes. I mean the blouse bits. They are exactly like rubber balls. Actually if you remember the movie flubber, the green piece of 'S@#$' hits all the walls around in the room and comes back to Robin's hand. The blouse bits are exactly like that. The inherent nature of blouse bits is to 'come back'. Just that it would have changed a few hands before reaching where it started! But these women never stop. They buy more of it and let it in circulation. Just like money in circulation, the bits go all over the place and land at the coffer.
My mom wanted to stop this after me, my brother and dad started irritating her over she spending too much on blouse bits being sent into circulation. She came up with a sexy idea to beat it. She just started buying matching saris for the blouse bits. Reason? How can we give away something that came to us! Dad was an irritated man of course!!! ;o)
golu doesnt discriminate between genders at all! so if u want one u couls always have one, whether you have a girl or not, whether your girl wants it or not! those are just excuses! am sure mamis wouldnt mind givin away shirt pieces!but am with u next yr to suren's house!
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