Tips/ Suggestions for parks - Navratri Golu

To a normal golu, some creativity, add-ons makes it interesting and an unique one. Park near golu padi attracts everyone's attention. Children crowd around it, like a bee attracted to honey. I am sharing the tips which i saw my mother doing for our golu park during my school days. As we didn't have camera that time and the family i am married into don't have the golu tradition, i am unable to post any pictures to show you the sample.

Basic Things you need for a miniature Park,

1. Sand
2. A bogini / cylinderical vessel
3. Small miniature dolls according to the theme
4. Ragi sprouts and mustard seeds
5. Mustard Sprouts
6. Ice cream / popsicle sticks
7. Small Rectangular chip tiles - to use as step on hills
8. Burnt paddy skins / உமிக் கரி - or you can get the rice skin from shop and burn it & coarsely powder it for making roads. or use used coffee and tea powder after drying them.

Mark a corner near the golu padi which will be safe and undisturbed. Clean the area, Spread the sand evenly. Select your theme. We did mixed theme hence there is a hill with temple on top, below one part is forest area with wild animals, one is a residential area, one side restaurant, one side Pond with aquatic animals.

1. Mountain/Hill : Take a vessel fill it with sand, place it in the part wherever you want the hill to be, completely cover it with sand till the sand heaps on top of the vessel looks like a peak of a mountain. Keep it on a corner of the park. pour sand over it till the vessel is completely buried under sand. Sprinkle some water to keep the sand intact.
2. Decide which theme occupy which place 
3. For temple on top of mountain : place miniature temple creating a base. Place the small rectangular chip tiles as steps leading to the temple at top. small miniature dolls can be placed on the steps here and there to show people climbing up or down. Cars or bullock carts can be placed at the foothill from where you can mark the roads using burnt paddy crop skins.
4. Lake : In the marked place,slightly remove sand, place a blue plastic sheet over which keep a flat bottomed wide mouthed small glass tray  (like a circular fruit tray) and level the sand around it. carefully fill water inside it. Float the miniature aquatic animals, boats etc. in it. Amphibians can be also placed near the bank to give it a real life habitat look. 
5. Green effect : Make this arrangement two or three days prior to kolu if you want it to look green right from first day, or just make it a day before so that each day with the growth of ragi plants, the park will have different effect. soak ragi two days prior to kolu, drain and and let it sprout. these sprouts can be sprinkled evenly on the land and  on the mountain/hill. Where you want forest, sprinkle some ragi as well as mustard seeds. Don't forget to sprinkle water over the sprouts every day. just sprinkle little water every morning and evening.
6. For Flower bed look, colour the ear buds and plant them in bunch properly on a area where no need for sprinkling much of water.
7. Plant the dolls, houses, & other items as per your theme in their place. 
8. Make fence at the end using ice cream sticks / popsicle stick.
9. For a change even chettiar set can be placed near the mountains and with few hut like dolls, can create a village effect.
10. Urili or good plastic tubs / glass bowls filled with water and floating floral arrangements can be made. 
11. For Roads in parks, you can collect and dry the used tea / coffee residues or umi kari (burnt paddy skins). and keep some vehicle toys.
12. small pebbles and stones can be partially burried amidst the grass. (ragi sprouts)

We can explain to children about the importance of man in living in harmony with nature and their fellow living beings viz., (animals, plants, birds, etc), going green, importance of wildlife, etc.

Let us try to be close to nature as nearly as possible by bringing out a natural greenery inside our kolus, our homes, this year and every year with some creative changes!

You may also like to check out the following posts :

Navaratri Chundal Varieties (Sundal)

Navratri / Golu

Navratri Golu Ideas

Navratri / Golu GIFT ideas

Navratri Preparation

Happy Navratri.

Navratri / நவராத்திரி / Dusserah

Navratri festival which is celebrated through out India falls in the month of September - October. As per the Tamizh Lunar Calendar it falls in the month of "Puratassi" after the new moon day (called as Mahalaya Amavasai) and is celebrated for 10 days, ending on 10th day celebrated as Vijayadasami. It is celebrated in grand manner but in different ways in the nothern (as dusserah) & southern regions of India.

In North Each day of Navratri , bajans are conducted by ladies inviting other ladies to their home, offerings made to god and distributed as prasha d. In the evening hours, ladies, gents and children gather and play garba (espcially Gujaratis) till late hours of night.

Navratri is dedicated to the Goddess during which first 3 days, she is worshipped in the form of Shakthi (goddess of power), next 3 days in the form of Lakshmi (goddess for wealth) and the next 3 days in the form of Saraswathi (goddess for knowledge). In temples, the Goddess are decorated in the 3 forms on their respective days.

Golu / Kolu : 

 Image courtesy : google

As the Navrati approaches, the house is cleaned and maintained very neatly as it is believed that goddesses are invited in their homes to dwell with them. Then the box in which the dolls are saved are removed from the attic, cleaned, if required given a fresh coat of paint or glitters, dresses are made for them before they are displayed in the golu / Kolu padi. New idols also take their place in the golu/Kolu.

Navratri in the south is celebrated in many homes by displaying various dolls / idols neatly arranged in steps called Kolu padi. On the new moon day, the steps are set and the idols of god, kalash, rice & dal in each in separate bowl takes the first few steps, then comes the dolls of  Mahatmas like acharyas, scholars and then birds and other animals and human beings till the last step.  The most common idols in all golus are idols of the 3 godesses, Dasavatharam, Ram, Seetha, Laxman, Hanuman, Krishna, Sankaracharya, Vivekanandar, Shirdi Baba, Gautama Budha, Animals & Birds, Chettiar ayya and chettiar amma with their grocery shop. Some plan their golus theme based suiting to modern days. Park as an add on feature is created near golupadi using sand, on which grass is grown & dolls are place to create forest, resort or temple theme or mixture of all. The place is decorated nicely as per one's creativity & affordabillity using festoons, drapes, Illuminations etc.

The Neveidhyams or offering to the goddess vary as per the state and tradition of the people. Legumes, pulses, rice are offered in different forms as per their tradition. they can be sweet or salt & spicy viz., sundal, puttu, etc.

Mornings special offerings are made to the Goddess every day of navratri with the ladies chanting special slokas for goddess like "Lalithambal Sobanam, Devi padam, Devi Bhagavatham, etc."

Lady of the household invite relatives, friends and neighbours to their Kolu . Girl children dressed in silk blouse & skirt goes to different houses inviting the lady & children of the household offering saffron (kumkum).Some Ladies wear silk sarees, decorate their head with beautiful flowers and visits golu in their best attire with their children.

The guests are welcomed, offered seats (which is usually a mad laid on floor), chandan & kum kum. If they know to sing, the sings songs in praise of the goddess. Neivedhyams like sundal, puttu, payasam are offered to God.While the visitors take leave, they are offered kum kum again, betel leaves & nuts, banana, flowers, Haldi, gifts (optional) and the prashad of the day. The day ends with an arathi.

On 9th day of Navratri falls the saraswathi pooja. On that day the instruments, tools and books are placed neatly, covered with a cloth and pooja will be conducted in every household, offices and factories, worshipping Godess Saraswathi - the giver of good knowledge. People do pooja for their vehicles too on that day. The next day is the "vijaya dasami day" and all the books, tools & instruments are taken out after a pooja for use.

The navratri celebrations come to an end, when the idols are put to sleep (putting them in lie down position) on the steps and the next day, they are packed & saved properly for the next year.

Below are some more posts of mine on Navratri / Golu which may be of help to you

Navaratri Chundal Varieties (Sundal)

Navratri / Golu


Navratri Golu Ideas


Navratri / Golu GIFT ideas


Navratri Preparation

Yaa Devi Sarva Bhutheshu, Shakthi roopena samasthithaa

Namastasyay, namastasyay, namastasyay namo nama :

 

Yaa Devi Sarva Bhutheshu, Lakshmi roopena samasthithaa

Namastasyay, namastasyay, namastasyay namo nama :

Yaa Devi Sarva Bhutheshu, Vidyaa roopena samasthithaa

Namastasyay, namastasyay, namastasyay namo nama :

May the goddess bless you all and bring the prosperity and happiness to your home. Happy Navratri.

Jai Mata Di

Puliyodharai / Tamarind Rice - புளியோதரை

A lipsmacking variety rice of south India and is the most common and famous one in the Iyengar Homes. This rice is distributed as Prashad at Vishnu (Perumal) Temples in Tamil Nadu. I love seeing the rice inside the dhonnai (leaf bowl) which make it even more appetizing. "Perumal Koil Puliyodharai" is very famous. But the recipe I am giving here is a little different one, shared by one of my Iyengar (Vaishnavite) friend.

As the name suggests, it is tangy (Puli).

Prepared using combination of different ingredients and different methods..


In this method, the gravy and the masala powder are mixed separately to the cooked rice and set aside for minimum 4 hours to let the flavour be absorbed by the rice. Seasme Oil (til tel) suits best for this recipe.

You  may also mix the powder in the tamarind water, boil it in a kadai after giving tadka and that paste can be stored in refirgerator for instant use in the future. - A good & quick lunch box idea for office goers.

In olden days, for long distance travel, this rice is preferred & taken as Parcels by packing them in a plantain leaf, as they can last long. I remember the train journeys during my childhood  days, we eagerly await for amma to open each podhi (parcel), we just relish every bit of the rice with the fried karuvadams (a southindian papad variety). It is a must in our Picnic Lunch as well.

Ingredients :-

1. Rice - 1 tea cup 
2. Haldi - 1/4 tsp

for the gravy & tempering

1. Tamarind - 1 big lemon size
2. Salt to taste
3. Asafoetida (hing) - less than 1/4 tsp
4. Urad dal - 1 tsp
5. Mustard - 1 tsp
6. Chana dal - 1 tsp
7. Gingelly oil - 2 1/2 tsbp
8. Roasted Ground nut - 2 tbsp
9. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Masala Mix

1. Dhania seeds - 1 tbsp
2. Red chilli - 7 nos
3. Pepper corns - 10 nos.
4. Jeera - 1/4 tsp
5. Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp

Preparations :

• Cook rice by adding Haldi (turmeric powder) - the grains should be separate. spread in a plate to cool.
• Dry roast the ingridients given for masala mix one by one and powder them
• Prepare tamarind water and keep it ready.

Procedure :-

• Heat oil, add mustard. when it starts spluttering, add Channa dal and urad dal & fry till they turn red.

• Add curry leaves, roasted ground nut and tamarind water.

• Put asafoetida and salt. Boil till it becomes little thick in consistency.

• To the cooked rice, add the masala powder little by little (as per your flavour preference) and the tamarind paste (if you need it less tangy, add it 3/4 of the paste first and then as per taste can add more). Mix well and keep it aside for minimum 4 hours so that the flavour will be absorbed into the rice and makes the dish even more special

Side dish suggestion : Urad Papad / Rice papads

Suggestion :- You may add the powder to tamarind water and boil it well. after it cools down, store in a container and refrigerate. This can be used as and when required for preparing tamarind rice.

Carrot Thayir Pachadi / Raitha - காரட் தயிர் பச்சடி

Ingridients

1. Carrot Grated - 1 cup
2. Coconut - 3 tbsp
3. Mustard - 1/4 tsp
4. Green Chillies - 2 or 3 Nos
5. Salt to taste
6. Coriander Leaves finely chopped - 1tbsp
7. Curd - 1/2 cup

• Grind coconut, mustard and green chillies to a nice paste
• In a bowl, mix the grated carrot, ground paste, salt, and chopped coriander leaves. Mix well.
• Before serving add the curd and mix then serve.