The Lost Pithori

I jokingly call it the Anti-India religious festival. Celebrated on the last day of Shravan, this puja is meant for the kids. Let there be many and let them live long – the prayer would be. This is perhaps the only religious festival celebrated in my family. The matriarch – my grandmother – used to perform this puja and all her kids and grandkids used to assemble together to seek the blessings! It was a very elaborate affair. A night, we kids were allowed to stay up late and in some cases even skip school the next day! It was a yearly gathering of all the cousins together and an evening spent having fun. The rains would have subsided by then and atmosphere would be very nice – lush green, pleasant and cold enough to not require a fan.

A hand drawn - piThori cha paT - figurines of 64 different goddesses were worshiped along with banyan tree leaves. Lots of flowers would decorate the puja.

The main attraction was food – puraN poLee, aLoochi wadi, walacha birda, bhendichee bhaji, paDavaLaachee bhaji, karlyachee bhaji, bhajaNeecha waDaa and tandaLachee kheer! All these things would be laid out in a plate and at the end of the puja my aji would raise the plate on her head and ask – yaa waNaa laa athit kaoN? Who seeks the blessings today? As the youngest of her grandchildren, I was allowed to be the guest…until the next generation arrived! I had to speak out the names of everyone – all her children and grandchildren – Jayant, Shaku, Sindhu, Narendra, Raju, Dipoo, Pradnya, Pravin, Kanchan, Bhushan, Nutan, Rani, Abhi, Netra, Kaustubh, Harshada, Mayura, Kalpak, Akshata, Abha aNi Anuj – the list would go…and names added as new generations were added to the family. Neighbors would be invited – aaj amachya kaDe tirtha prasadalaa yaa – please come over for blessings – and a sweet peDha distributed.

Following dinners were an elaborate affair too. We would buy lot of plantain leaves and dinner would be served on it – easier to clean. The puraN poLee, the aLoochi wadi would be home made and my mother, aji and kakee (paternal aunt) would work over time to get everything ready in time.

And since the holy month of Shravan would be over, the next day, everyone celebrated by eating non-vegetarian food. Bombay duck curry, rice and ninava – sweets made of chick-pea flour and coconut would be the menu!

Eventually, people started finding it difficult to be there – festivals related to lunar calendar can be uncompromisingly on a working day! And it also became difficult for my aji to coordinate it. Many of her grandkids would be away – some for jobs, some because of exams, some stuck in a wrong country! The puraN poLyaa were no more home made, they were made to order by someone who could never replicate the authentic taste of a tel-poLee. Eventually after aji moved away (yes, there are project closures in real life too), one generation was automatically knocked off from the blessings and the list shortened. My kakee inherited the puja, but along with the old matriarch, luster was gone too.

I have been guilty of absence too. After a long time, I was present for the puja this year. What a depressing affair. It was just the six of us – kaka, kakee, my parents, Abha and me. I was more worried about the pains it would take to prepare all the food. poLyaa order kara aNi bakee kaahi karoo naka (Order the puraN poLee and that should be it). But my mother did not accept the idea. She went to the market to buy the vegetables. My kakee made the aLoochi waDee and the puraN poLee was made to order as I suggested. I was there to answer the question – yaa waNaa laa athit koaN? – with a much shorter list.