Winters Calling!

Winters Calling !

In India, every festival marks the welcome of a new season or a climate of that region. This diverse country is much more than what we have ever heard of. Festivals are connected to seasons and  colours are associated with every moments and occasions. Sharad is the season of autumn that falls in Ashwin and Kartik month (September - October). It is one of the season before winters. Earth has already gone far from sun so, sun rays have already started falling slant in Northern hemisphere. 

Start of an Autumn: It is when cool air starts blowing in dark night and people dance with all joy all night. Krishna Bhagwan and Radha Rani along with Gopi had raas during Nav Vilas - Nine night of  Raas. Goddess Amba is also worshiped during this nine nights. People circumambulate around goddess temple by doing Garba steps. Garba is a folk dance of Gujarat state located in Western India. Today, this festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm. Every chowk of the village is decorated with colourful cloths and lighting. The monsoon in which we sat peacefully inside house now, Navratri brings us out at night and feels us with highest energy levels to have Garba till morning. 

In West Bengal, East India, all nights Durga pooja is carried out in Pandals where Goddess Durga's statue is installed. This is main festival of Bengalis. From youngest child to the oldest man gather and celebrate the festival of Durga pooja. White Saree with Red borders is wore by women and red round bindi is also worn as symbol of adornment.  Dusshera is the tenth night when God Ram killed Ravan - The king of Lanka and Goddess Durga killed Mahisaasur. Both Ravan and Mahisasur were Demon killed by a God and Goddess respectively after a long struggle and fierce fight. After this legend it is considered a day of victory of truth over false. Dusshera means failure of a person with ten heads. 

"Adrakh Zyada Dalna Bhaiya !" ," Kaka Kadak Banavjo !" Post navratri night we all crave for a cup of tea. Group of friends gather at tea points after navratri night and have some leg pulling of friends. Everyone sitting there just wanders when did night pass. On those nights nobody worries about a school, a college or a job in morning. Yes, they do care but doing Garba till end for some is everything. So, pre-festival, festival and post festival are celebrated here. When Navratri passes those roads and photos mesmerizes us.

In start of this season before sun rises green fields are covered with this tiny dew drops. Cooling of  warm and moist soil during night causes condensation of water vapor on clear nights. Dew recharges the soil moisture and avoids evaporation of soil moisture during the time when dew is formed. Dew drops makes easy for farmers to mow the grass if needed, in afternoon. Interesting thing to know is the harvesting of dew drops is done by some organisations in Kutch region of Gujarat in India where large amount of  fresh water is saved every night to cop up water scarcity and feed  people residing in desert. 

Parijaat is a night-flowering Jasmine. It grows during end of September month and falls in the species of Nyctanthes. The bud starts opening after sunset and after blooming, in early morning it fells down on ground. The leaves of Parijaat is used to treat fever caused by mosquito bites in Malaria. When Few leaves are boiled in water and then consumed, it cures arthritis and gives relief in sciatica. Flowers are used as source of yellow dye for clothes and due to its rich aroma flower oil is used in making perfumes and incense sticks.

Why eat frozen food when we get fresh grown in our farms. As winter arrives markets are full of green vegetables. You can plant few veggies during monsoon and harvest them in winter. The most famous and awaited dish to eat is Undhyu. Though it is consumed during winter of  December and January, vegetables used in that is mostly grown during winter. It is potato, sweet potato and paapdi. List of vegetables that grows in tropical region is long and lengthy. Radish. Carrot, Spinach, Cabbage, Bottle green, Cauliflower, peas, turmeric and many more.

It is about to arrive soon . After all the celebrations, the next is DIWALI.  Festival of lights. During Diwali all homes light up  with oil lamps and family members come together to celebrate this festival. Children gets longest holidays after summer vacations and working class are relieved with three holidays at least. Till now everyone have just cleaned up their houses, all clutter is uncluttered and new curtains are up. Sweats have arrived from stores to our plates finally and new clothes into our wardrobes. So, Happy Diwali In advance!