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Vishu symbols decorate homes
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Vishu symbols are getting into drawing rooms and lobbies
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traditional chic An uruli used as a decorative piece, as a vase
Tradition sticks. Like quickfix. So even in the most mod heart, there lives a bit of tradition that usually sticks out loud on festive occasions. Vishu, to the Malayali, means the vishukkani first. Also a time for the ubiquitous ‘kasavu neriyat
hu’ to don a new avatar _ It becomes the traditional Vishu kani fan plumed inside an ottukindi while a vaalkannadi nestles by its side. Placed between the image of Lord Krishna, jackfruit, golden cucumber and mangoes, an uruli is laden with rice, jasmine and kanikonna flowers .
For good luck
While the air is suffused with its fragrance, flickering oil lamps cast spells of prosperity and good luck. That magical twilight hour when the sun moves from Meenam Rasi to Medam, the Malayali witnesses the dawn of yet another new year. The symbols of vishu, nilavilakku, uruli, vaalkannadi, et al have moved from their traditional places, some in the kitchen and others in the puja room, to drawing rooms and hotel lobbies. Other traditional things and also architecture now finds a place in modern buildings too.
The Malayali packs a nilavilakku in his baggage, for a sojourn abroad. Or he may revive the nalukettu or the poomukham when he builds his dream house. Seeking novelty in tradition he may decorate his living room with the Nilavilakku, the para and the kindi with a floral uruli thrown in as the piece de résistance, which grandma used once a year to set the Vishukkani. The golden hued Vishukkani fan and the Valkannadi flit out of the Vishukkani scenario to take a revered place on the taalam of maidens ushering the Hindu bride for the nuptial ceremony. What is the significance behind this practice?
Explains L.K.Krishnankutty, president of Ernakulam Karayogam, “The Valkannadi symbolises Goddess Devi, while the starched white cloth or the Vishukkani fan is her attire. Just as for Vishu, in marriage too , these are included to invoke Devi’s blessings.”
Sometimes the Vishukkani fan becomes a gargantuan embellishment on the Hindu marriage mandap, the brainchild of a creative event manger perhaps!
Says Joe Jacob, partner of an event management firm, “All traditional artifacts like the nilavilakku, the kindi, the para and ashtamangalya thattu are popular choices not only for weddings but for corporate functions too.” The utensils used to cook the Vishu sadhya are no longer skeletons in the kitchen cupboard; they have come out into the open. So the kalchatti in which grandma made the kalan or the uruli in which ada pradhaman was cooked, or the kayyuruli in which she served rice have become objet d’art, grabbed by antique dealers. , tourists and hotels.
Nostalgia
Vishu comes with its dose of nostalgia and sentiments. Jaya Madhusoodhan of Tripunithura reveals, “My sister-in-laws and I still set the Vishukkani in the uruli gifted by our late mother-in-law. She wanted us to remember her for every Vishu, a festival she loved dearly.” While Rema Varma has preserved the gold coin which her husband gave her as his Vishu kaineetam for their first Vishu after their marriage. The Malayali believes that his fortune for the year depends on the first thing he sees in the astronomical New Year, which is the Vishu Kani. Happy Vishu!
ROSHNI MOHAN
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