Pongal @ Sobha Palladian – Jan 2024

பொங்கல் வாழ்த்துக்கள் – Pongal Vazhthukkal

 
At Sobha Palladian we have been celebrating Pongal regularly over the past 6 years – and  it has become an eagerly anticipated event now. 

We started with a single simmering ‘Ponga-Paanai’ at the Exit gate in 2018.

Along with sweet pongal we had  a few sections of ‘Karumbu’ (sugar-cane) to chew on and a few dozen hot delicious vadais from Freeda’s kitchen.

A simple and low key affair with a a dozen  families, a bunch of kids and  a few  curious onlookers watching us from the other side of the exit gate. .

From then on, each year we have seen this event getting bigger and better with more & more enthusiastic participants & volunteers. More ‘Panais’ got added along with ‘Venn Pongal’ and chutney and sambaaar.   

Last year Jovial, introduced Medhu-Vadai counter – hot crispy vadais being prepared and served right out of the deep-frying pan!!

This year’s Pongal celebrations was par excellence! 

The ‘Sarkarai-Pongal’ was complemented with delicious Venn-Pongal and medhu-vadais.

All prepared ‘on-site’ – on firewood stoves, in clay pots with generous additions of Cashew nuts   and Gur and pepper (for the salty dish) . 

And it was served steaming hot with spicy chutney and sambhar to-go.

We also had a record participation from residents who came dressed for the occasion – In traditional ‘Pattu – Podavai’, spotless white Veshtis and bright colourful dresses. 

Our Maidaan was filled with enthusiastic children and a sizeable number of senior citizens as well. 

The Grand ladies of SP !!

We had a serious photographer with is big camera + professional grade lens attachment and an amateur with his Canon.. And a whole bunch of those ubiquitous mobile enthusiasts. And the quality of some of their images and footage were better than my old DSLR !!

 Here are a few highlights of Pongal @ Sobha Palladian – Jan 2024!!

 

The Ponga-Panai :  KK’s ‘pattu-neelam’ (navy blue) BMW was used to cart the Paanias from Thippasandra (I assume)  to SP.

Any idea why KK and Jeeba Raja bought so many additional smaller pots ???

Large Vessels and long handles ‘karandis’ were sourced from various houses. And many jobs like grating coconuts were farmed out to many house-holds.

All the ingredients, plates, spoons, water filters etc etc were brought to the maidaan by 3 PM. The Aruvaal (Machete) too for cutting wood as well as sugarcane .

The entrance gate area was decorated with traditional rangoli and greetings. This was completed the night before.  And since drawing kolam is not practised frequently now days, the ladies had difficulty in balancing on their toes while drawing and colouring . Thankfully the two small browsing stools kept in our library came in hamdy !

 And this time we did not buy firewood. Linto gathered them from our own garden waste. A very thoughtful action that saved us  some precious rupees!!

 The Preparation: 

Our Main Chefs Nirmala and Mohana launched the Pongal preparations and others joined in to add rice, milk, gur, and other ingredients to the pots.  

And many took turns to brave the smoke and stirred the Pongal regularly.

And a lot many also held the long Karandi  to pose for the photo shoot sessions !

So yes, it was a collective effort in making the Pongal!! 

And in spite of so many cooks the Pongals were delicious!!

Kudos to the entire team!! 

The Games:   Long before Cricket became a religion, we had our own suite of wonderful traditional games . Sadly, many have been pushed to obscurity and the new generations especially in metros have never played these.

In this Pongal, we got to play some of these games and recounted those good old nostalgic times !! 

Paandi – the West calls it HopScotch.

Rajeshwari maami and Jeeba Raja in action !

And watch the enthusiastic ladies of SP teach Bipin how to play  Paandi !!

Cycle tyre race – a favourite past time for boys – rolling a cycle tire with a stick. I was an expert at this and could navigate thru narrow galiis, drive over puddles & pot holes and even climb a few stairs !! In Tiruvannamalai, even today, you can see a few boys in their half pants, topless and bare feet happily running behind a rolling tyre on the mud roads !

Kho Kho – a very ex

hausting and vigorous game !! Play for an hour and I can bet your calf muscles will start screaming and you will have a stiff back for the next few hours ! 

Pot Relay (Prancing along the Panghat)  !    Watch our ladies balance a pot full of water on their heads and run up to the finish line!!! Remember the extra small pots ?

Kitti Pullu  (gulli - danda).  I am sure a lot of senior citizens is our group would have played this game - and broken a few windows, injured a few folks and got beaten for it as well.

Gulli danda, pittu and gaind dhadi (a crazy game where we boys hit each other with a tennis ball) were quite popular in my younger days in Dehra Dun.

 Did I miss am other game?  Did we have Uri Adi this time?? 

The Feast :  The much awaited Pongal was ready and people lined up for generous helpings !!  I enjoyed every morsel and cleaned the plate (was very tempted to lick the plate too)

All in all, it was a wonderful occasion.  We met new folks, exchanged notes with many and enjoyed the company of so many wonderful people and children in Sobha Palladian.  

I spent some quality time with elders, sat with them and basked in the warm sunshine watching children & their parents enthusiastically play games. 

And the best part for me was to hold a heaped plate of Pongal and 2 vadais and eat them slowly with a spoon while lazily watching the action all around me !!! 

The Pongal Team:    

Quote KK :  “I was really amazed by integration efforts of distributed cooking where each household had a small scrum team to  cut vegetables, fry cashews, grate coconuts,  soak the grains, containerisation, shipment, etc etc…a perfect agile project”.  “A big thanks to Sukanya, Freeda, Vasumathy  and Sangeetha for all the support👏👏” A special mention to jaisree srini for all the support from cultural comm”.

 The ‘Prime Movers’ for Pongal 2024  were a few families and individuals who  have enthusiastically managed a flawless  execution this time as well.

Let’s appreciate their efforts and thank them for carrying on this tradition each year.

KK & Nirmala / Jeba Raja & Freeda / Mohana, Venkat, Supriya & Nivedita / Saran & Leela/ Vasumathy / Jovial & Kalai / Bhuvana/ Hari & Aprajita/ Jayashree, Sukanya, Sangeetha, Janhavi, Mary  & Sudha.  And I am sure there were a lot more folks who worked behind the scenes to make this a very memorable event.

Nivedita was the life (or soul ?) of the event!  You heard her constantly on the sound system, managing the  kids, conducting events, encouraging parents and elders to participate.

Wow, I admire her countless initiatives, high spirits and boundless energy !!

Thanks a ton, once again!!

 And a round of applause to all the residents for your encouragement & enthusiastic participation in all the events.

And a big Thank You to all tfhe mobile photographers for sharing their images & videos. I have borrowed generously from their WA imsges!

 And much appreciation and thanks to Linto, Mathi and all the staff @ SP. 

Krish// 2001

PS:  Checkoiut  the Photo Gallery !!! Pongal @ SP - Jan 2024 !!