TV Programme - Vijay TV Bhakti Thiruvizha

TV Programme - Vijay TV Bhakti Thiruvizha


Yesterday’s episode of Bhakti Thiruvizha (Vijay TV) moved me to tears.

Professor Ilampirai Manimaran has been talking for the past four days on different stories from The Mahabharata. It is always very nice to hear the stories of Mahabharata.

Being Bhakti Thiruvizha, it has been basically about Lord Krishna’s part in the epic, but today, the concluding episode was about Karnan. It was not his full life history, but in general about what he is famous for – his generosity. 

Arjunan has beaten Karnan, but he is still alive. Arjuna is tired of piercing Karnan with his arrows, but he is not yet dead. Arjunan says so to his sarathy, Lord Krishna. Krishna with his mysterious smile says he will sort out the problem. He takes the form of an old Brahmin and goes to Karnan for alms. When Karnan feels sorry for his inability to give the Brahmin anything in the battlefield, Lord Krishna asks Karnan to give away all his good karma as alms. Without hesitation Karnan not only gives away all his good karma as dhaanam, but also gives away the good karma he will get because of giving away all his good karma when he is about to die! The Lord gives Karnan darshan and grants him his wish - how many ever janmas Karnan takes, he will be as generous as he is in this janmam as Karnan!
Lord Krishna comes back to Arjunan and instructs him to aim an arrow at Karnan now.

The Professor went on to explain how pathetic Karnan’s life was

The most important persons in one’s life are Maatha (Mother), Pitha (Father), Guru (Teacher) and Deivam (God).
In Karnan’s life, his mother Kunti deserted him right after birth by putting him in a box and leaving it in the Ganges river
Father Surya Deva is in the sky and not of much help
Teacher Parasuramar taught him everything, but cursed that he will forget the most important asthra prayogamGod, Lord Krishna, joining the opposition, took away his good karma

She also mentioned about the song by Kaviarasar Kannadasan in the Tamizh movie Karnan about his charity
 
 மன்னவர் பொருட்களைக்   கை கொண்டு நீட்டுவார் மற்றவர் பணிந்துக்  கொள்வார்
மாமன்னன் கர்ணனோ தன் கரம் நீட்டுவான் மற்றவர் எடுத்துக்கொள்வார்
வலதுகை கொடுப்பதை இடது கை அறியாமல்  வைத்தவன் கர்ண வீரன்
வறுமைக்கு மறுமையை வைத்ததோர் மாமன்னன் வாழ்கவே வாழ்க வாழ்க!

Usually when people give anything, the donor’s hand is above and receiver’s below. But Karnan will hold things in his hand and the beneficiary can pick up what he needs from him. Such was his generosity!

Karnan will always be remembered for his charity and Mahabharata is incomplete without his story!

Recipe - Vazhaithandu morkootu (வாழைத்தண்டு மோர்க்கூட்டு)

Vazhaithandu morkootu (வாழைத்தண்டு மோர்க்கூட்டு)

The stem of banana, Vazhaithandu is rich in fibre and is very good for health.

This healthy dish is quite common in my parents’ place and relished by all of us

Ingredients

Banana stem       - 1

Toor dall            - 2 tsp

Grated coconut   - ½ cup

Red chillies          - 3

Jeera                  - ½ tsp

Beaten curd       - ¾ cup

Salt                    - to taste

For seasoning

Oil                    - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds  - 1 tsp

Urad dall         - 1 tsp

Curry leaves     - a few

Soak the toor dall in a cup of water.

Cut the banana stem into tiny pieces and keep it soaked in water to which few teaspoons of buttermilk is added. This is to ensure that the stem does not blacken due to oxidation

Drain the buttermilk water, wash the cut vegetable once again and cook with some water.

Banana stem takes some time to cook. Add salt half way through. Ensure less salt is only added as this vegetable cannot take much salt.

Grind the coconut, soaked dall, red chillies and jeera with some water into a paste. Add this to the cooked banana stem. Keep stirring as this mixture will thicken very fast because of the toor dall in it. After 2-3 minutes, add the beaten curd and switch off gas after one boil

In a kadai add oil, coconut oil tastes very nice, but any cooking oil is okay. Add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add the urad dall. As soon as the urad dall becomes golden brown, take the kadai off the gas, add the curry leaves to it and then add the seasoning on the vegetable.

Delicious vazhaithandu morkootu is ready to eat!

Panguni (பங்குனி)

Panguni (பங்குனி)

Panguni is the last month of the Tamil calendar. This year it is from 14th March – 13th April

Karadayan nombu (காரடையான் நோன்பு)  

Panguni begins with Karadayan nombu which actually is observed on the last day of maasi just before the beginning of Panguni.


This nombu is also called Savitri nombu as it is being observed by the ladies for the welfare of their husbands following the footsteps of Savitri who fought with Yama and brought back her husband Satyavan to life!

Panguni and Thai are two months in the Tamizh calendar where the exact time of beginning of the month and not just the day is followed. For Thai, we usually check the time of the beginning to make the Thai pongal. For Panguni, the nombu is to be observed and the sacred yellow thread tied and the nombu adai offered to the Goddess just before the ending of Maasi and beginning of Panguni.

Usually ladies fast until the puja time and offer nombu adai both the sweet and salt variety along with butter to the Goddess and tie a yellow thread around their necks praying for the welfare and longevity of their husbands.

The prayer uttered is “உருகாத வெண்ணையும் ஓரடையும் நான் தருவேன், ஒரு நாளும் என் கணவன் என்னை பிரியாதிருக்க வேண்டும்"  meaning “I offer you non-melted butter and the adai, please ensure that I never get separated from my husband”.

After the puja, the ladies eat only the adai offerings as prasadam.

This year it was on 13th March late in the night.

Arupathimoovar (அறுபத்திமூவர்)

People of Chennai are quite familiar with the Aruvathimoovar festival which takes place in Mylai Kapaleeswarar Temple.

The ten-day festival which transforms Mylapore completely concludes on Panguni Uthiram day with the celebration of the wedding of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. There is a procession of the 63 prime devotees of Lord Shiva on the eighth day, giving the festival the name of Arupathimoovar.

This year Arupathimoovar festival began on 10 March and concludes on 19 March. Here is the programme list for this year's festival. (kind courtesy: my sister Jayashree)

Panguni Uthiram (பங்குனி உத்திரம்)

The combination of the star Uthiram and full moon day in the month of Panguni is known as Panguni Uthiram.
Panguni Uthiram is a day which at home we call “wedding day of the Gods” as on this day the wedding of Shiva and Parvathi is celebrated as part of Arupathimoovar as mentioned above.

 Also wedding of Lord Muruga to Deivaanai and  Valli  is celebrated on this day.

Wedding of Lord Mahavishnu and Mahalakshmi is also celebrated on this day.

Special pujas take place in Siva, Vishnu and Murugan temples on this day.
This year Panguni Uthiram is on 19th March .

Ugadhi (யுகாதி)

The Telugu New Year’s Day is called Ugadhi. This year Ugadhi is on 4th April

Sri Rama Navami (ஸ்ரீ ராம நவமி)

The combination of Navami thithi and Punarpoosam star is celebrated as Sri Rama Navami, birthday of Lord Rama.

Special pujas are conducted in temples and homes with items like neermoru, panagam and kosumalli (salad) offered to the Lord. As this is the beginning of summer, we can see that the food offered is ideal to quench one’s thirst and refresh him!
This year Sri Rama Navami falls on 12th April

Women's day gala in the colony

Women's day Gala

The Rangoli competition was followed by the Women’s day gala yesterday.

The stalls were put up on Saturday itself and right from morning many residents including me were peeping in to see if the stalls are getting filled.

 

At 10 am, I could see about 5-6 stalls which increased by the hour and ended up with a total of more than 20 by noon. There was a general lull in the afternoon with the maximum crowd in the foodstall which took care of the sales people’s lunch. By 4.30 pm the whole colony was down at the stalls looking at the different products available for sale!

 The products varied right from cars to toys for kids. with scooty, cycles, computers, invertors, water purifiers, tata photon whiz, whirlpool products, roti making machines, summer camp, herbal products from Amirthanandamayi mission, cosmetic products from Oriflame and a few other companies, a variety of products from Amway, Tupperware containers, household cleaning solutions, salwars and bedspreads, kids clothes, fancy jewellery, readymade custard powders and rice mixes, caps & purses, plants and so on.

Car stall

Scooty stall

Cycles

Health care products

Tortilla - roti maker

Cosmetics

Herbal products from Amritanandamayi mission

Laptops

Tupperware

Invertors

Plants

Stall selling bags, caps and purses

Household cleaning solutions

Oriflame products

Whirlpool

Tata photon

Fancy jewellery

Amway products

Clothes for kids

Summer camp with a sample work on display

Salwars, bedspreads etc

People looking at the stalls

The food counter had a huge space and took care of the evening snacks of chat, boli, tea, coffee and fruity and also dosa/chapatti for dinner.

Food counter 

Chaats available

As a few of the organizers were trying to conduct games for children, ladies from the Oriflame stall came forward to conduct games for the ladies as this was Women’s day special. They had quite a few games in which we ladies took part enthusiastically!

They gave out Oriflame kits as prizes too!

A game where the ladies were asked to burst others' baloons

Game where the ladies were asked to call out their team names and join the team!

Game where the best impression of lips on paper won the first prize, right side the men are judging

The best dressed lady was chosen by Oriflame and Mrs. Parvathy won the prize!

Singing ability of a few ladies also came out in the open as they were requested to show their talent!

The kids were restless as they did not have much activity. Hence the car stall people conducted a couple of games for them to keep them engaged

Kids enjoying !

The snack counter was full of people trying to have a bite of the chaat items between the fun activity!

Prizes for the rangoli competition were also distributed with special prizes for the first three places and participation prize for all the contestants!

Finally a few kids danced to the film music and it was good fun to watch

All in all it was a very entertaining day!

Rangoli competition in our colony

Rangoli competition

Anybody entering our colony today would have wondered if Margazhi had come many months early. It was so colourful with different rangolis. These beautiful rangolis were done by the residents of the colony for the rangoli competition which is part of Women’s day celebration.

I was seriously watching Sachin batting and the sudden smell of rain made me wonder if it has started raining in Chennai today. I peeped out of balcony to notice water being sprinkled all over the pathway to get it ready for the rangoli competition.

In about 15 minutes time, the place was abuzz with ladies and kids ready to have a look at the contestants and their artistic skills.

First began the Ther kolam. 

On the other side there was a beautiful peacock drawn making me think if the peacock drawn in the white chalk powder is so beautiful how will the final rangoli be!

Another lady was busily drawing the dots with perfection!

There were a few free hand drawings too with a round shape in the centre and getting developed concentrically!

The organizer, other ladies and our President were walking up and down to have a look at the progress as the contestants were busy drawing swift lines and filling up with rangoli amidst the excited kids who were eager to give colouring ideas to their mothers and neighbour aunties!

 
A time limit of two hours was fixed for the competition but the judges were quite lenient

In fact a couple of contestants joined the contest quite late but were quick to complete.

I walked up and down taking photographs of the progress and found the colouring methods used by the ladies very impressive!

Finally after giving a grace time of more than 15 minutes and waiting for all the contestants to complete their rangolis, the judge announced that time was up and the winners were declared promptly

Here are the twelve colourful rangolis

The stunning jewel-like peacock was a clear winner. The colour combination used by this contestant Dharani was very catchy as the rangoli powder was mixed with salt and glitter powder

The second price went to Senthilselvi whose rangoli was that of four parrots on four branches. The way she had bordered around the parrots with a blue colour looked very attractive and was like a carpet

The third price was given to Sangeetha for the three dimensional effect rangoli. She had mixed salt in some colours and rice in others which made it a very different type of rangoli

As the judge rightly said all the rangolis looked beautiful, but as it is a contest a prize has to be announced which need not necessarily mean that the others were not worthy of prizes!

Kudos to the organizers and the contestants!