Page 23 - Masala Lite Issue 166 October 2024

It isn’t hard to go out during the nine days; the puja
and festivities from days one to eight happen in each
woman’s respective home, and during the evenings
women gather in temples or each other’s homes
and have a bhajan session where they either
read out shlokas or sing devotional songs. On
the ninth day, everyone in the family goes
out in the evening either to the temple or
a common ground where the women wear
rich silk saris and adorn themselves in gold
jewellery and dance in a big circle around all
the Bathukkammas placed in the middle.
These days people are quite creative
with their Bathukkammas, infusing
them with certain themes, and
there are even competitions for
who makes the best one! On the
ninth day, the Bathukkammas are
almost 4-5 feet in height!
After the festivities, everyone
heads to a riverfront or a water
body where an aarti is given to
the Bathukkammas, and they
are then immersed in the water
with a request for the mother
goddess to return back next
year. Gauramma (an idol of
Gowri made of turmeric) is
taken back from Bathukamma
before immersion, and every
married woman applies a paste of
this on her mangala sutra.

Now that I have moved to Bangkok,
celebrations still happen through the Telegu
Association, but much smaller in scale, and in
the comfort of people’s own homes.