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Know your traditions
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Anju Poddar’s new book ‘Our Festivals Our Traditions’ helps you stay connected to the roots
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PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR
Telling tales Anju Poddar
It all began a year-and-half ago when Anju Poddar went to a wedding and was stunned with the ‘knowledge’ youngsters had about our traditions. “The bride did not know how to create a swastik and when she asked her
NRI husband, he asked her to ‘draw a plus sign and go all around it,” recounts Anju. And, when her Marvari friend, married outside her community and wanted to do the Karva Chauth, she could not find a reference book in English. Determined to present a complete guide about festivals and traditions to bring an awareness among youngsters, Anju Poddar decided to pen it all down in the form of a book. The tome, a bi-lingual released on Saturday and titled Our Festivals Our Traditions is a fascinating journey into our rich and colourful festivals, rituals, the importance of fasting, simple recipes of dishes to be cooked while you fast, rahu kalam and the importance of colours.
“There will soon be an entire generation of people who will have absolutely no idea about how to do even simple rituals and the significance attached to them. It is upon us, elders to help the generation of pizzas and burgers to discover how rich Indian tradition is,” asserts Anju, whose earlier books included A Journey to the Heavens (a trip Mansarovar) and A Wedding in the House.
The purpose, she says, was not only to present the book in a simple language but also make God look cool! “My niece suggested that I make God look cool, like them so that they can relate to Him better. I tried my best and I hope I have succeeded,” laughs Anju. Our Festivals Our Traditions is not an exhaustive treatise but a practical handbook written in a simple language with even smallest details, which Anju has collected from listening to elders including her mother and mother-in-law. Another handbook titled Baarah mahinon ka tyohaar in Marwari also helped her in reference. She dismisses the remark that the book deals mainly about North Indian festivals. “Today, we see so many mixed marriages happening and there is nothing like a south Indian or north Indian festival. Diwali, Holi and Sankranti are happy celebrations enjoyed by all.”
Priced at Rs. 1,095, the 400 page-book is a visual treat and is illustrated with by paintings by artists like Chippa Sudhakar, Laxman Aelay, Chintala Jagdish, Giridhar Goud among others.
Next time, your little one wonders why one needs to apply a tilak, you know where to look for the explanation.
NEERAJA MURTHY
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