Days 7, 8 and 9

Day 7 :

I went ahead and did something not so traditional..I offered sweet corn snack as neivedhyam..My husband, who does the ritual every evening, was a little surprised..'Are you sure this is our offering for today??' - he double checked..this was something unheard of in our families..I was running out of the grain options to make sundal with..and if we can offer channa daal (kondakadalai), green peas and black eyed peas, why not corn?? I opened up the freezer and just boiled the sweet corn kernels with salt and this was our offering for the day..:)

Day 8 :

Today was a very important day..it was Saraswathi poojai..Traditionally, we deposited all our books and pencils near the goddess and never touched them the entire day..It was a day we all used to look forward to as kids, as this one day, we would not have to read or write..:) The charm faded once I started studying for my CA exams. The exams would generally begin in the first week of November and skipping one day of study would be a great loss..So, I pleaded pardon from my parents and walked away from the tradition quite early..These days, it is a lot different..in addition to the kids books and the customary check books and pens and stuff, we also performed poojai for our iPad and toys (as the younger one wanted to offer something very important from his end too for the celebration)..I made aval payasam (kheer) in the morning and ulundhu vadai (urad dal) for the evening neivedhyam..We had a guest for tamboolam..She brought her son along, who is Harshitha's close friend..I got too immersed in enjoying their play that I forgot to take a quick shot of the vadais..presenting the payasam and kolam for you...:)) the kolam (rangoli) is called 'hrudaya kamalam' and is believed to bring prosperity..





Day 9 :

Today is the last day of the season - Vijayadasami (on the ninth day, this year..:)) ) This day marks the close of the festivities and special prayers are performed for all the gadgets (kitchen gadgets, vehicles and the like). Elaborate cooking follows today too..From my kitchen, I offered coconut rice and carrot payasam in the morning after the pooja was over and we made a simple vadaiparuppu (moong dal salad with carrot and cucumber grated) for the evening..The kolam was from a mould that I got from our recent India trip..This has a matrix of numbers and is the kubera kolam..this is believed to bring lot of wealth..so, what other day could be as good for starting to use that other than today...:)) the pictures are here -

As per the custom, one of the dolls was put to rest by Harshitha, at the end of the day..they will continue taking rest till the next navarathri..Hopefully, we have a bigger and better celebration next year..

See you all soon, with other interesting stuff..