Think Deepavali in Chennai and chances are pattasu, murukku and Ganga snaanam will instantly come to mind. We delve a little deeper into the celebrations
this year. Over generations, the city’s North Indian communities have created their own unique blend of local and traditional customs to mark the festival of lights.
TEAM MELANGE spends the week with friends from the Sindhi, Punjabi and Marwari communities to get a glimpse of how they celebrate the festival.
We discover two things: Call it Deepavali or Diwali, draw a kolam or rangoli, light velakkus or diyas – the spirit of the festival is still about sweets, snacks and family.
PS: Also, this is the best way (and time) to get invited to people’s houses for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Renu Raheja
All of Renu Raheja’s experiences can be divided into two categories: before coming to Chennai and after. Before, she lived along with 20 other family members in a six-bedroom apartment facing the sea on Marine Drive, Mumbai. After, she moved into her husband’s five-decade-old ancestral house, with just one other person, her mother-in-law, for company. Before, Deepavali was a week-long celebration, with non-stop ear-splitting sounds of crackers from the streets, all-night-long card playing sessions and indulging her sweet tooth. After, it’s been pretty much the same. “Except, the streets are a lot quieter. But my in-laws made sure that I had the same amount of fun as I had in Mumbai,” says Renu, a Sindhi, who moved to Chennai after marriage, 30 years ago.
I visit her house a few days ahead of the festival, and Renu has already checked the two must-dos — shopping and cleaning — off her list. Her house in Kilpauk is spick and span, including the front porch, parking lot and the swing that her pet dog Whiskey is gently rocking on. Soon, diyas will outline the building, and rangoli will cover the yard. Meanwhile, the kitchen is stocked with ingredients required for semiya payasam, palak bhaji (a spinach-based curry) with bhuga chawaran (brown rice), and saat saaghi bhaji (a dish that includes seven vegetables).
But all that can wait. “First, we have to finish off all cleaning by this evening. For the next three days, we shouldn’t sweep or mop, especially the puja room; it would mean we are shooing away goddess Lakshmi,” says Renu, who is vice-president of the Sindhi Women’s Association, which includes 300 members in the city. “There are certain beliefs that have been passed down by the elders, and though I do not know the science behind it, I am sure it is for good,” she says. Following their word, she makes sure every member of her family wakes up before dawn, has an oil bath, and joins in the puja, on all three days. On the final day, she, along with her husband, and their staff, perform Chopda Pujan in their office, and open new accounts. She also buys a gold or silver item every year, dips it in a bowl of milk, and pours it into a tulsi pot. “I don’t know why,” she repeats with a laugh.
Rajesh RRaheja, her husband, walks in after his day’s work. He needs to wrap up all pending official duties in a day or two, for a long weekend of fun that compulsorily includes visiting family and friends, catching a movie, dining outside, playing a game of rummy or flash, besides visiting the Sufidar temple to attend Lakshmi puja, and worship their main deity Jhulelal. But what interests him more is the deeper meaning of what the festival stands for: removing darkness with light. “I use this as an opportunity to distribute food and clothing for the underprivileged, and more importantly, as an occasion to be together with my extended family at least for a couple of hours — which is a rarity today,” he says.
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Swetha Gupta
Deepavali for the Guptas is all about family and friends. For the Punjabi family that is otherwise preoccupied with their store Sarvottam in Alwarpet, the festive day is a season to step back and spend some much-needed quality time with folks at home. According to daughter-in-law Swetha Gupta, the family that has been in Chennai for over 28 years, has even adopted some of the local traditions to make their Deepavali brighter.
“I moved here 11 years ago after I married Sailesh. Deepavali here is a much-looked-forward-to affair. However, it isn’t too elaborate. We like to keep it simple and use the day to just relax, unwind and spend time with our loved ones. At my mother’s place, it’s a different story altogether. My mother, who is a homemaker, would make elaborate plans for the festival and I remember scrubbing the walls of the house at least a week before the festival. In fact, every family member would have a designated chore around this time,” she recalls. In Chennai, however, since the entire family is usually tied up with running the store, they try and make their lives simpler by breaking up the whole cleaning process. “We usually pick one segment of the house on a regular basis and clean every nook and cranny. That makes things easier before Deepavali. The store however, is a different story. Here, there is thorough cleaning done, and the space is spruced up for the festive season,” she says.
Festivities for the Guptas begin with Dhanteras, an auspicious day to buy something precious in gold or silver. “It is usually gold, but we choose to buy silver. And every year, the aim is to buy a little more than what we’d bought the previous year. It is said to bring good luck,” she smiles.
For Swetha, Deepavali also means endless card game sessions with the family back at her mother’s place in Bangalore. “There we play cards till the wee hours of the morning. This is also considered to bring you luck. The fun and jokes are an added bonus,” she says.
At her home in Chennai, Swetha says that the day begins with a Lakshmi puja at their store. “We keep the store open for about half the day after the puja. After this, we head home to relax and catch up with close friends and families. It is also customary for us to give them gifts on Deepavali. In the evening, we have another Lakshmi puja at home, following which it is time for firecrackers. My son likes the smaller noiseless crackers, so we prefer those,” she says.
Deepavali is also about good food and sweets. While a busy schedule keeps them from making sweets themselves, they do buy a wide variety. “It’s usually my son’s choice. We leave it to Gunin to choose and it’s almost always laddoo that he opts for,” says Swetha, even as Sailesh, her husband chimes in, “We also get kala jamun.” And of course, dinner is a feast with pulao.
They keep the store shut on the day after Deepavali, says Sailesh. “We have another puja on that day and it is only after that that we open the store.”
Another thing that Swetha looks forward to during Deepavali is Bhai Dooj. “We all head to my maama’s house for a small get-together. After the customary tikka for our brothers, we spend the day just having fun. And of course, there are gifts involved. While traditionally the brother gives his sister a gift, in our case we exchange gifts. It’s double the fun,” she smiles.
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Nicky Chandak
For Nicky Chandak, Deepavali in Chennai is still celebrated the way her in-laws family did before they moved here from Jaisalmer over three generations ago. After marrying into the ‘huge joint family’ two-and-a-half years ago, Nicky and the Chandaks maintain that the festival is the high point of their year.
For the Marwari family, like most in their community, Deepavali is a three-day affair, starting with Dhanteras. “It could be a small coin or a vessel, but we have to buy some artifact in silver,” explains Nicky. Since Deepavali is essentially the celebration of Goddess Lakshmi, who represents wealth, it is considered auspicious to buy something made of precious metal.
On this day begins the lighting of lamps around the house, giving the festival its moniker of ‘festival of lights’. “We basically ensure that not a single corner of the house is left unlit,” says Nicky. The next day is called Roop Chaudas, the day before Deepavali, and is the day when all the specially-prepared sweets and snacks are brought out and final touches added to the decorated house.
Lakshmi puja is done both at homes and offices, and everyone is treated to new clothes and jewellery. “Since Deepavali is our main festival, we even ensure that the most expensive electronic items or cars are purchased during this time,” says Nicky.
Sweets that are a speciality in the Chandak household are kathlis and gud ke laddoos, or laddoos made with jaggery. Puris too are made with jaggery, flour and lots of ghee. “Jaggery is the main ingredient in a lot of our sweets,” says Nicky, a nod to the family’s Rajasthani roots.
The third and final day is the main Lakshmi puja and the customary bursting of crackers. “These days, we are aware of noise pollution and air pollution, so we burst just a few crackers for about half an hour, shagun ke liye , to keep the tradition,” says Nicky, adding that it’s also to pacify the kids in the family, for whom the highlights of Deepavali are the new clothes, the endless supply of sweets and the crackers.
So what is Nicky’s favourite part of the festival? “I look forward to the last day,” laughs Nicky, adding that between lots of cleaning, endless cooking and all the work, the festival can get really hectic for the women in the family. “And there’s also the pressure of whipping up sweets that stand out to impress the guests who will be visiting many houses over the festival weekend,” she says.
On a more serious note, she adds that the best part is that the family gets to meet each and every person in the extended family, since visiting and gifting sweets and goodies is a big part of the festivities. For Nicky and her husband Kartik, and the Chandak family, this year too is going to be all about keeping up with the unique traditions that mark the celebrations of the Marwari community.
