Vishu Aashumsagal

This vishu reminds me of the many vishu’s I spent in my childhood away from the heart of things in Kerala and instead in the deserts of UAE. I guess when you are away from home and festivals come then we all try to recreate the festival and feel happy in our own ways. :)

I remember one particular onam in Dubai when I was in 4th Std, when my father’s friends, their wives and kids were all supposed to come over to our flat to celebrate. That time we were all very excited for one uncle had managed to arrange for banana leaves to make the lunch more authentic and banana leaves in those days in Dubai was totally unheard of. I remember everyone was in high spirits and it was like the achievement of the year. One more item to make it feel like home….how important it was and it still is. :)

Not that I would be doing amazingly grand things if I were to be at home during this festive time, its just the very state of being at home, among familiar smells, going to the temple and coming back, a little hustle there, a bit of a bustle here and of course the food. :D I guess festivals are meant to be with home and with family, anywhere else you feel incomplete and restless.

Well enough of depressing statements, yes I am not at home but I didn’t let vishu go by without a try, so Shaiwal and I managed to gather up whatever we could to make up an if not authentic Vishu Kanni then atleast a distant cousin to it.

[Aside- Vishu Kanni is the set of things we keep in front of god the day before and on the day of vishu it is the first thing you are supposed to see. It usually has all those items of prosperity which you would wish to have in your life the year ahead, including gold, money, vegetables, fruits, etc.]

I felt good to do it up. Only thing was that this is perhaps the first time I set my vishu kanni so I was excited to get up and see it in the morning. Normally at home my mother used to wake us up at 4 am to see the vishu kanni, bearing that in mind I decided to sleep off as soon as possible. Unfortunately I must have slept off at 12 and then through my sleep kept thinking that I need to wake up soon, which meant I was wide awake by 3:30 am! Poor Shaiwal didn’t know what hit him, after seeing the kanni myself, I woke him up, covered his eyes so that he would see the kanni first, sleep walked him towards it and ta - daaaa gave him his first Vishu Kanni!!!

We each gave each other vishu kayneetum(money) and then stumbled back to bed, after all it was a hideous hour. My excitement of the day refused to vanish so after 15 minutes of tossing and turning, I got back up and rang up my parents. They were surprised and I was happy to give them that surprise. My brother was shocked that I was awake. :)

Well calling up India took up only half hour and I was still wide awake, so I did what my mum used to do, got into the kitchen to start on my vishu sadya. I made sambhar, mooru kutaan, potato fry, carrot uperi, lemon rice and curd rice. My kitchen and home are all tidied up and so am I, my husband thinks my mental balance is questionable but I am feeling good because its Vishu. My new year has started and with it my hopes for a great year ahead.

Wish all of you who are reading this blog a great year ahead too. :)