This is my first post in my blog.
On 16th January which is celebrated as Kannum Pongal in Tamilnadu, I went to a temple called Katu Kanni Amman temple. Before this let me share my views about kannum Pongal. In the recent days, the significance of kannum pongal is diminishing a lot. On this day, after the Thai pongal and mattu pongal ( festival to thank the sun, cow) there is a social happening which occurs. People go and visit some places along with relatives and friends. In some customs, elders give money to the kids and young couple to go out and have fun. Infact when i was a kid, this was one awaiting moment when there is less pocket money. Now no companies give holiday on this kannum pongal and slowly people forget this.
But this year it was a different experience for me. I went to a village called Ammayarkupam, which is my husband's grandparents place. It is a small village and hence the tradition is mu
ch alive. Since its kannum pongal, all relatives and our family went to that temple. I was reluctant to go as i am not very fond of temples. But the visit to temple is just for a name sake. It was just an outing in the name of visiting a temple
The temple is inside a deserted hill and hence no proper roads were available and obviously no car travel. We had to take a share auto and walk for a stretch. Its just 20 mins travel from the village. Around 25 members went packing all stuff to cook and eat and relax in and around that hill/temple. I was wondering a good option will be to cook at home and pack the cooked stuff and have fun. But their plan was better. The prepared lunch by lighting the dried branches, taking fresh water from the stream. Then did i realise that only few stuff is required for preparing lunch. Our kitchen having lots of utensils, kitchen appliances makes no significance.
All kids had a lovely time playing in the stream, women chatting and cooking, men boozing and having fun. It was a perfect refreshment for all and I understood its a custom to visit this place on the month of Thai every year. The entire village of Ammayarkuppam will plan to visit this temple in the month of Thai. Having born and brought up in rural places, this was something new and yet it makes proper sense of having entertained.
At the end I started to envy their simple lifestyle. On the dark side, still they are stuck up with superstitious beliefs, unwanted rituals. On the ending note, if we are rational enough to take the traditional values from the superstitions, and not blindly follow the western culture, we can live a contented life.
