The memorable days of VISHU in my life...

VISHU - A new start Vishu is one of the important festivals of Kerala. It comes in the month of April. According to the old traditional Malayalam calendar it is the 1st day of the New Year. 'Kani-Kanal' is the main event of the day. The night before Vishu, the mistress of the house prepare the Kani. In big pots, coconuts, fruits, cereals and Konna flower are kept. Behind the pot a mirror and the garlanded deity of Krishna is kept. Around the deity, lighted lamps will be arranged. Early morning on the Vishnu day, the master of the house sees the Kani and then the rest of the family follows. Children's are brought blind folded from their beds to where the Kani is kept. The elder in the family give money to the youngsters and bless them. It is believed that the Kani we see and its good tidings will stay with you till the year ends. In Kerala the Kani in the temples of Guruvayur, Ambalapuzha and Sabarimala are famous.

The memorable days of VISHU in my life:

Last week (April 14th 2006), we celebrated our first VISHU in USA (453, Woodland Avenue, Apt #3, Lexington, KY). Inspired by my beloved father (sri. V.S.Kailasam), I started my decorations for New Year in the pooja room (attached to the kitchen) around 12PM and it went on till 2PM. Lots of ideas started pouring into my mind to make it more beautiful. Thanks to my roommates for sharing their valuables. If I had planned a little early, I could have hanged some flowers/mango-leaves too...But something better than nothing. I borrowed a mirror from my neighbors staying downstairs and used it to reflect my decorations. The picture above shows the reflections of my decorations. Awesome rite. I like this snap very much and hope u too..

I can recollect my childhood days back in India, where my father used to wake me and my sister around 6AM (we sometimes shout at him because 6AM is like too early for me at those stages of my life, but now I really feel how much it would have hurt him and how bad I used to behave.. sorry dad) and took us to the pooja room (with our eyes closed) and will ask us to open our eyes in front of the VISHU. Me and my sis then used to clean our eyes with the water and my father used to explain the importance of Vishu and about each and every item (fruits, vegetables, flowers, rupee notes, coins, jewels, etc..) he used for his decoration. We both used to admire the reflections that are seen in the BIG beautiful mirror kept @ the back of the decoration. I don’t know how to explain in words, that the mirror used to add special effects to my fathers decorations. Then he used to gift us with a 1-rupee coin and we continued our routine. Wish I should have taken some snaps :( Those days were really memorable.

Coming back to the US part: Hope you remember the famous saying that: "Joy gets doubled when shared".. on April 14th morning, I personally invited everyone in 453, Woodland Ave around 7:30 AM, to share my joy. The invitees were My roommates: Suren, Karthik, Thyagarajan
and my freinds in:
Apt #1: Smita, Keerthi, Kundana, Deepthi, Puja
Apt #2: Rakesh, Praneeth, Srujan, Sujan, Vishnu
Apt #4: Hari, Dinesh, Harish, Anand, Sameer, Sounak
Thanks to all for coming.

I received appreciations from some of my friends. But beyond all this, what I value most is my personal satisfaction I get when I involve myself whole heartedly in such functions. Now I realize why my father used to call so many people...proud to have such a great and wonderful father. Dedicating this post especially to HIM for teaching me the importance of Indian values and traditions.

- Satish