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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Krishna Jayanthi in Eindhoven

Last Thursday was Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna. I have so far never on my own celebrated the myriad of Indian festivals that come every year. Somehow after moving outside of India and having started living on my own, I just din't feel up to it. But this time I was inspired by my neighbor and thought that this was perhaps a good way to actually re-bond with my own culture.



My mother's decorations back home

Lord Krishna is particularly fond of sweets and butter.Tradition has it that baby Krishna comes to every house where he is celebrated to eat his favorite food. I made the traditional "appam" with banana in it and a dollop of butter on top (thankfully it came out okie) in the morning, drew out the baby foot steps which in my house had to come from the window with a complicated route as the rest of the house is carpeted (ya, Krishna is good at high jumps..:D), crooned to some songs in praise of him, ate my own creation of the "appam" and left to office. Felt pretty good.

The offering is always shared with family and neighbours and I gladly exchanged mine for some better "cheedai" (A round, crispy snack, another fav of Krishna). My mother had the biggest surprise when I told her about it, she thinks I have finally turned into a mature woman..heehee..:)

13 comments:

Pinay in Dutchland said...

Indian religious culture really amazes me. With a lot of gods and goddesses that you have, must have been difficult to remember them all. But the part that comes with food, it's new to me. Thanks for sharing this info.

~ Lopa said...

Hey Janmastami was this Friday !!

I fast every year this day, but me being greedy didnt do it this year as we were flying back here same night and i didnt wish to miss all last day "fill-in till stomach blasts" !

thamarai said...

Pinay - Thanks a lot...It sometimes is fun to do such things just to keep traditions alive..and you are right..we have 1000s of different Gods...

Lopa - you were right..I did put in the day wrong..but it was Thursday...we all celebrated here on Thursday..my mother as well..perhaps it is a northy - southy difference..though it doesn't make sense...:)

~ Lopa said...

hehehe.... ya may be.... in Gujarat we all celebrated it on Friday.... Only my mom & mil fasted this year ;)

You know even the rituals you described differs a bit than what we do.... isn't it incredible... same country, same festival, essense remains the same but how rituals differs with diff people from same country !

thamarai said...

haha..so true..I hope you had fun eating the yummy things...India is soooo diverse in that sense....we somehow blend in everything though...:)

Unknown said...

thats so kewl d... this yr we all went to ISCKON at midnite and it was amazing. Even my starbucks frnds came wid us and they we were all thrilled at the awesome BDAY party baby krishna got=)

thamarai said...

Thats awesome! Nothing to beat the decorations and the festive atmosphere in ISKON temple...but with starbucks friends, cool! :)

gsom said...

Hey Vij..I missed my Mom's cheedais..Unfortunately I dont have the luxury to prepare them here..

thamarai said...

Hey Sowmy..ya I can imagine...amma va parcel panna sollu..;)

Unknown said...

I'm glad your neighbor inspired you ;-) This is very lovely to learn about via someone like you, so I do hope you will share much more!

I am just back from vacation & slowly getting back to blogging. It may take a few more days, but I'll be sure to catch up on your posts. For now, I wish you a great week :-)

thamarai said...

Hey Isabella, glad that your back from your vacations and I hope more neighbors inspire me..:D

Unknown said...

Hi! I stumbled upon your blog through the BlogCatalog and it called my attention. I also see some familiar "faces" leaving comments here ;o)
How interesting to know about all your traditions! Is it hard to keep up with them being far from home?
Anyway, thanks for sharing all this!

thamarai said...

Hey Aledys, thanks a lot for visiting my blog! ..Yes, it gets hard to follow traditions especially when away from home...but I try..:)

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