Becoming Savitri...
There comes a day in the life of all married women, ok ok, all married Tamil Brahmin women, when they must abstain from food and pray for the longevity of their husbands. Well, that is me, in the modern Savitri avatar! Since Satyavan is not around, I had to click my picture myself. This is how I ended up resembling Mrs. Savitri.
In this day and age, how much of this is desirable is left to one's imagination, but, for me, it was always an opportunity to gorge on the yummy kara adais and sweet adais. Here are some photos:
Well, the adais came out well. My Satyavan seemed quite satiated and the look on his face, while he polished off the adais with the butter, was the reward. My statement sounded quite regressive, even to me. But, yeah, I suddenly got into this maternal mode and fed the DH till he declared that he was going to burst. So, I polished off the rest of the adais and felt nice. Then, I remembered my promise to my team buddies that I will bring adais if they came out well. Oh ho! The dough was there, so I made 2-3 batches and got some nice small adais for the junta.
About the nombu, when I did the puja last year and the year before that, I did not participate so much because I had so little to do except stand by and watch. This time since the nombu came during a favorable time, I planned much ahead and did the puja perfectly. I almost had this eerie feeling that even the Goddess felt good with my devotion and smiled at me. She helped me with the adais also, I think. Maybe, I am becoming a schizophrenic, imagining things and talking to photos!
Anyway, last night, I was not sure If I would fast for DH. I had not done it for the past 4 years. I never felt the need to. In fact, now that I am thinking about it, I did not do it because I did not feel motivated enough. This time, since I did everything myself, I felt connected with the puja and I decided to go full steam. Even the 9 yards had to be done perfectly. I did, finally, drape the 9 yards of red fabric around me, nicely, snugly.
The sari sat on me nicely, did not fall off and allowed me to make the adais also. I was so tense about the adais. I have never attempted making neivedhyam in a state of 'madi.' Hence the nervousness.
Sigh! 3:30 p.m., and there I was, praying for the long life of DH. Lo! I forgot the lines I had memorized off the website. I managed with bits of Tamil and English.
I prayed:
Please accept this unsalted buttter and kara adais
Please bless me that I never separate from my husband
Phew! I checked if the Goddess in the photo looked pleased with her saradu and flower. She seemed ok to me. I could not taste the adais so I was not sure if she liked them. Finally, the puja got over, and I popped an adai into my mouth. They were perfect. Exactly the way my mom used to make. Hmm...
Something about this ritual and the buzz around it made me decide to fast for DH (He also offered to fast for me, but couldnot.) End of the day, as I write this piece, I feel a bit peaceful of having keeping in touch with long lost traditions. Maybe, Savitri had something to do with this.
Since I am in a warm, fuzzy mood, I will rest my case. Later, I will write a post about what I think about such practices (when I am saner and not high on adais). Keep reading.
Read here about the story of Savitri and Satyavan and Kardayain Nombu.
In this day and age, how much of this is desirable is left to one's imagination, but, for me, it was always an opportunity to gorge on the yummy kara adais and sweet adais. Here are some photos:
Well, the adais came out well. My Satyavan seemed quite satiated and the look on his face, while he polished off the adais with the butter, was the reward. My statement sounded quite regressive, even to me. But, yeah, I suddenly got into this maternal mode and fed the DH till he declared that he was going to burst. So, I polished off the rest of the adais and felt nice. Then, I remembered my promise to my team buddies that I will bring adais if they came out well. Oh ho! The dough was there, so I made 2-3 batches and got some nice small adais for the junta.
About the nombu, when I did the puja last year and the year before that, I did not participate so much because I had so little to do except stand by and watch. This time since the nombu came during a favorable time, I planned much ahead and did the puja perfectly. I almost had this eerie feeling that even the Goddess felt good with my devotion and smiled at me. She helped me with the adais also, I think. Maybe, I am becoming a schizophrenic, imagining things and talking to photos!
Anyway, last night, I was not sure If I would fast for DH. I had not done it for the past 4 years. I never felt the need to. In fact, now that I am thinking about it, I did not do it because I did not feel motivated enough. This time, since I did everything myself, I felt connected with the puja and I decided to go full steam. Even the 9 yards had to be done perfectly. I did, finally, drape the 9 yards of red fabric around me, nicely, snugly.
The sari sat on me nicely, did not fall off and allowed me to make the adais also. I was so tense about the adais. I have never attempted making neivedhyam in a state of 'madi.' Hence the nervousness.
Sigh! 3:30 p.m., and there I was, praying for the long life of DH. Lo! I forgot the lines I had memorized off the website. I managed with bits of Tamil and English.
I prayed:
Please accept this unsalted buttter and kara adais
Please bless me that I never separate from my husband
Phew! I checked if the Goddess in the photo looked pleased with her saradu and flower. She seemed ok to me. I could not taste the adais so I was not sure if she liked them. Finally, the puja got over, and I popped an adai into my mouth. They were perfect. Exactly the way my mom used to make. Hmm...
Something about this ritual and the buzz around it made me decide to fast for DH (He also offered to fast for me, but couldnot.) End of the day, as I write this piece, I feel a bit peaceful of having keeping in touch with long lost traditions. Maybe, Savitri had something to do with this.
Since I am in a warm, fuzzy mood, I will rest my case. Later, I will write a post about what I think about such practices (when I am saner and not high on adais). Keep reading.
Read here about the story of Savitri and Satyavan and Kardayain Nombu.
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