K. JANARTHANAN
Engineer Ethiraj Aravindhan smiles as he recalls fond memories of celebrating Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival, while growing up in Ashok Nagar, Chennai.
Bonfires and excited chatter would fill the air on Bhogi, the first day of the four-day festivities.
“My friends and I would go around the streets beating drums and singing songs,” said the 53-year-old. “We would collect old items for the bonfire.”
The main purpose of Bhogi is to honour Lord Indra, the god of rain, and it represents the discarding of useless items to make room for a new beginning and crop.
Mr Aravindhan also recalled the taste of the pongal dish (rice cooked with milk) and coffee made with milk fresh from the neighbours’ cows.
“We did not keep cows, but many of our neighbours did,” he said. “At our backyard, my mother would make pongal using a stove made of wood and rocks.”
In 1970s Chennai, the Pongal festival was a joint-neighbourhood celebration, according to Mr Aravindhan. “Now families have become nuclear and people have drifted apart,” he said.
In Singapore, it is not feasible for him to celebrate Pongal like he used to during his younger days.
He arrived here in 1997 and currently resides in Bukit Panjang with his wife and two children.
But, in keeping with the spirit of Pongal as the season of new beginnings, he and his wife Sumitra, 45, are hoping for the best moving forward as their son Siddharth and daughter Kirthanasri pursue their higher education.
“I did not do well during my first term as I did not adjust well to studies after two years of national service,” said Siddharth, 21, a first-year student at the National University of Singapore.
“I am hoping to change that this year.”
Kirthanasri, 17, also hopes for a similar shift.
The first-year student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic created a 3D model about Pongal celebrations for a class presentation. “My knowledge about Pongal has increased due to the project,” she said.
For the family, the three-day festival is all about gratitude.
“As part of our prayers, we worship the sun god,” said Mr Aravindhan.
“After cooking pongal in an earthen pot, we offer it to the deities while singing Tamil Thirumurai hymns.”
