NAVARATHRI IN NEWPORT
It is Diwali this weekend - and nothing outside the home to show for it. But so it was for Navarathri.
I was missing all the Navarathri fun, I felt, and I did miss the seeing the kolus of Madras.
SoI was pleasantly surprised when my nephew and his wife invited me overfor kolu. We went expecting an artistic arrangement of mementoes andcute toys.
Imaginemy delight when I saw a display on five steps (made with stuff boughtfrom Home Depot - the famous do it yourself chain store) and lovelykolu bommai's on them in glorious bright colours. Shalini told me thatthey had brought the dolls over from Madras over various trips. Iadmired her - with a toddler and a five year old, and going to work,she had done a wonderful job - and asking people over too to visit thedisplays and feeding them ‘sundal’ and coffee! Shalini told me thatsome of her friends also had kolu displays.Thispart of Jersey city where we live, called Newport, does have quite afew South Indians. There are many like us, parents who have come to bewith their children and grandchildren for a while. And they have formeda kind of informal group who meet in the evenings regularly. Being asedentary kind of character, I prefer to be at home and play withSamyukta.
Meanwhile I learnt from Jago,a lady who assists uswith the cooking,that in another part of Jersey city there was adifferent kind of celebration on the Friday night of Navrathri.
Wedecided to check it out - and when we went there, I could not believe Iwas in the USA, and that this was not India. Such was the atmospherethat night. The main street had been closed to traffic by 9 pm, andthere were police cars on either side to keep it blocked. We left home- Vandana’s parents and I,leaving a sleeping Samyukta with her fatherand grandfather. A stage had been constructed on the side of the roadon which a lady and her group were singing popular dandiya numbers, towhich everyone was dancing. There were young and old, men and women,some carrying babies in their arms,traditionally and colourfullydressed, all dancing away to the hypnotic rhythm.
(Click on collage for an enlarged view)
Iwatched open mouthed, amazed at this show of a part of India – I amtold most of the Indian population in this area is from the North.Those present there on that day were mostly second and third generationimmigrants, keeping the tradition of their country of origin alive. Wewatched for nearly an hour, the tempo never slowed nor the mood fade.Funnily I have never seen a dandiya dance at home – Navarathri in Madras is mostly about kolu!
Letme see now what is in store for Diwali - the twinkling illuminationsacross the river are a part of every night. “Just wait tillThanksgiving and the Christmas season,” says Sriram.
For Diwali at home, we have planned on celebrating as usual – new clothes, sweets and the other trappings minus the fireworks
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