The Spirit of Pongal
In this issue
When I was a little girl, I looked forward to Pongal. I remember my grandmother stirring the delicious mixture of rice and milk on the gas stove. At the right moment, she would call for my brother and me. We'd run in like a hurricane and shout "Pongalo Pongal" (Let the pongal boil over). And the frothy milk would bubble and rise like a hot air balloon before it sank and simmered in the fire.
It was an auspicious start to the new Tamil month, thai (January in the English calendar). The next day was maatu pongal, or a festival in which cattle are celebrated for giving us so much of themselves. As we had a number of cows at home, we washed and decorated them with kumkum and turmeric. The same day, Tamil Brahmins also celebrate kanu, a symbolic festival for the well-being of brothers where we offered balls of different varieties of rice to birds.
I grew up in urban India, but even there it hardly mattered that we were celebrating a harvest festival that was so rural in spirit and character. Many years later, when I moved to Madurai, I realised how intimate people's connection with the festival was. For almost a week, people revelled in Pongal festivities. In our cover story this issue, Kim Adams and Emily O'Dowd Lewis give us a first hand impression of how they experienced Pongal. According to them, the warmth and affection extended by the local people was the best welcome they could have received in India! We certainly think that's an auspicious start to their stint with Sivakasi Times!
