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Photos: K. Ananthan and S. Siva Saravanan

All smiles For the festivities

And, don’t forget the sundal “Just before we entered someone’s house on a kolu visit, my brother would say, ‘sing quickly, only then will they give us the sundal!’” chuckles Rama Venkat who loves this time of the year. She and her sons spend weeks planning on what they are going to do for kolu. Last year, it was Narasimha avataar and the stories associated with that. This year it is Aaru Padai Veedu. And, Murugan in all his splendour is being readied for the festivities. Rama has bommais that date back more than 100 years, a few, even 150 years. And, every year the bommais are lovingly unpacked and dressed up.

The festive feeling is infectious, and the city too seems to be caught up in the excitement. Somewhere there is an exhibition-and-sale of kolu-saaman. Elsewhere, a few ladies watch as someone fashions an exquisite gauri, with nothing more than a fistful of turmeric and a sprinkling of water. A mere ball of manjal soon turns into a beautiful face, bejewelled with earrings, raakdi, bullaaku and mookuthi. The result is stunning. The gauri looks startlingly like Vyjayanthimala!

One read somewhere how the world is irretrievably losing some of its ancient languages. Will our traditions go the same way? Will gauri alankaaram, kolu, the kalasam, vettalai paaku rituals, etc. vanish in time?

Not if people such as Rama Venkat and S. Gurumurthy have any say in the matter. For Gurumurthy, his bommais are priceless. He gingerly unwraps each one, and narrates a story associated with it.

Resplendent in silk are his 200-year-old mara paachi bommais . A senapati (also in wood) in a green uniform and white thalai paagai and a row of medals on his proud chest stands tall, awaiting instructions. And gods, goddesses, kings, queens and lesser mortals queue up to dress up and be escorted to the kolu room.

Gurumurthy still preserves the kasi pattu sari that belonged to his grandmother’s mother-in-law which makes it more than 100 years old.

Each year Rama depicts tales from the puranas, and hangs up print outs of the stories so that the kids understand better what they see in front of them. “I also tell my young guests the stories, and point out the different characters that I have set out in the kolu,” she says.

And, so we leave Rama and Gurumurthy and others like them to prepare their homes for the gods and soak the kadalai for the sundal. Happy kolu!

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