Vishu

Last week in office, we were discussing Vishu. I refuse to share Vishu with the neighboring state, Tamil Nadu! Vishu is very personal and has a lot of beautiful memories associated with it. So it will not be shared:-)

Vishu marks the new year for Malayalees world over. For me, it brings back like all other festivals, memories of the beautiful time in Kerala with my parents.  A lot of memories... 

Vishu Kani is the first thing that we see when we wake up on Vishu. I never knew when my Amma set the Kani up at night,  may be long after all of us went to sleep and after all the work. From my early childhood, I cheated with the Vishu Kani part. What else is more beautiful than my Amma's face? So I always sneaked a peak before she gently put me in front of the Kani. I can still feel the soft hands covering my eyes walking towards the Kani in the front room. 

Kani is an indication of the prosperity for the coming year. So it has a lot of good stuff, starts with an idol of lord Krishna and one of my favorite flowers Kani Konna - Indian laburnum. As April approaches, I keep looking for Konna trees. It makes me really happy when I see them in full bloom. I was worried that the tree in my house in Pune wouldn't bloom in time. But she didn't let me down.  

We also put rice, pulses, the golden colour cucumber, fruits, jackfruit, coconut and mangoes. Gold, currency notes and coins are also part of the Kani.

I used to see achan, my father making a special trip to the bank the day before, bringing back a small bag full of coins. These were for "kaineettam" - a small amount given to the younger members in the family on Vishu. I remember some of the neighbours and kids from nearby houses coming home for kaineettam. My younger brother and I definitely wanted a little bit more money than what was given to us. So we made an elaborate demand, in red ink nothing less, and put it on my father's desk with a knife on it!! I really don’t know what the two of the us were thinking! Achan had a hearty laugh and our kaineettam remained the same. Achan had this habit of giving his entire wallet to Amma as  kaineettam and he used to promptly  take it back under amma’s mock protest.

My girls have inherited the same attitude on kaineettam from my brothers and me :-) The younger one promptly demands her kaineettam from the elder one!

When I call up my cousins to wish them a happy vishu, we have a standard dialogue among us. "Vishoonde appam undo"? There was a time when neyyappam, a delicacy was made on Vishu. Old women would come home asking for neyyappam !

After the kani and kaineettam, the next important thing was bursting fire crackers. There was always a competition among friends from the neighbourhood and school as to who burst the maximum amount of firecrackers! Achan never believed in throwing money away and rightfully so. So I wasn’t among the top :-) but what I remember distinctly is that amma was very scared of fire crackers and achan would be the hero .

I have never seen Amma taking time off on Vishu, she would be in the kitchen the whole morning making delicious sadya for us and then cleaning up after. This day brings the smell, colours and taste that reminds me of her and her soft hands guiding me…