Artsy Craftsy ke liye kuch bhi karega....

This dead blog comes alive yet again thanks to the efforts of a super woman aka - Shruti. Sorry folks ive been MIA. Sorry for not replying to ur mails/ messages/ comments etc. no reasons, no excuses. Just been off blogging for no apparent reason. writers block,is thats what its called. i m no writer, so i dunno y the lethargy??? Maybe the true Gemini in me has surfaced again and after a few good months suddenly the enthu of this space seems to have gone. (I seriously hope not cos this wouldn't be fair to Momo at all). Anyway, thanks to all of you for reminding me to blog more and remembering me and missing me and Momotales.

Anyway, coming to the main agenda of this post, our entry for this months Artsy Craftsy. Last minute as usual, cos I really had no clue what to do. For Momo's b de we had mostly outsourced all stuff so cant say I hand made anything. N I have never done anything else ever. Then when I was browsing Shrutis blog yest to see the other entries, I noticed some entries abt decorations done for festivals. N it all came back to me in a flash and I remembered the decoration I had made for Navratri Golu in 2005. Luckily for me I had the pics on my laptop. Sent them to shruti and she approved. Thanks a lot dear . You are a sweetheart for allowing this and not letting Momotales miss participating in this months challenge.

Navratri is a big occasion for Tamilians.(Wiki says golu is done by all south Indian s- andhra/ kannada etc.) People usually make an arrangement of Dolls on steps called Golu and invite ladies for Haldi Kumkum amd serve them sundal (prasad). When we were young, we used to make these arrangements at home with a lot of enthu and it was great fun. After me n my sis moved out of home for further studies/ work, Mom used to just do a small Golu or not do one at all. During Navratri of 2005, I was between jobs and had some time to spend at home. So me , mom n dad decided to make a Golu for old times sake . Dad set up the boxes to make the steps and put his veshti(dhoti) around the steps to make it look even and hold the structure in one place. me and Mom got out all the dolls/ artefacts etc etc (actually whatever we could find, i mean there are some tea coasters, some old rug, some bowls from the kitchen, a duck I used to play with as a kid, a doll my sis used to play with as a kid n god knows what all.) of cos the traditional Marapachi dolls were placed first and then the decorations were done. Since I had some penguin toy, decided to make a snow area with an igloo etc. I also had some beautiful sea shells that I had collected around 8-10 yrs back during my first trip to Goa( yes, mom had kept them safely for this day wonly :), so i used the sea shells to make a sea side scenery. And lastly, my folks live quite close to the Marudhamalai temple which is the abode of Lord Murugan . So we decided to build a temple structure atop a mountain. Of cos there was a separate place for all the dolls and soft toys. And of cos the Deities occupied prime place for Dad to do puja everyday. Lastly, made a sign - Welcome with pista shells and Vanakkam with ground nutshells. Added rangoli on the side and there it was, a beautiful Golu. The fairy lights around when lit made it look even more lovely.

Here go the pics. Sorry if the quality aint so good. This was an old camera and this is 5 yrs old and I didnt really click the pics that I would put them up on a blog someday. So bear with it.

The Complete Golu



Step -1 & 2- the snow area, penguins, igloo, snowman, 3 wise men, and also the green patch is a garden area- a rug, some animals, rabbits etc.

 

Sep- 2,3,4 - Numerous Ganpatis, elephants, Krishna , etc

Step 5 - the topstep- Marapachi and Family

 

Devis and the alangaram

 

Marudhamalai -made the mountain by binding soil, used a clay temple at the top , and a small clay hut at the bottom, bird toys all around, placed a small bowl of water as a watering hole, placed game counters to signify people on the steps, made the steps with match sticks

 

the sea side- filled sand in a tray and aranged the shells and a coconut tree

Welcome -Pista shells, Vanakkam (in Tamil)- Ground nut shells, rangoli