Pongal is a popular harvest festival in Tamil Nadu & is celebrated for over four days. visit this link for more on Pongal http://www.pongalfestival.org/. Makar Sankrant is what is celebrated in Maharashtra.
My in-laws are Shetty's from Udipi but by virtue of spending most of their lives in Maharashtra they have taken to many customs & traditions of the Maharashtrians including a love for the language :-) As amma says,"Woh naveen sadi pehenna" :-) (naveen is 'new' in Marathi)
So, as tradition would have it tilgul (a mixture of white sesame seeds and jaggery rolled into small round balls, laddoos) was prepared at home. Ladoos or small balls........Aisha made sure she had a BALL of a time right during the preparations itself. All I did was help with the rolling & while we were at that Aisha was almost ready to sit in the big plate (paraat) and juggle the yaadoos (read laddoos)
Sadly I couldn't take pics then but I did manage to click a few where Aisha & her Dad are relishing the Sankrant delicacy.
It was a holiday so after lazing the whole day it finally dawned on me that my friend Anusha had invited us over for Pongal which also fell on the same day.
WOW.............to be honest Anush, Div, Padh, Vinush & me have been friends since school. Except for Vinush all are Tam's (Tamilians) , Vinush is a mallu :-). Well, getting back to the real thing; though all my friends were Tam's I can't recollect going over to their place O_N_C_E for Pongal :-/ can't seem to remember why.
Well, Anush is back in India after a very long stint in the USA & we actually look for any opportunity to get together for some time. So Pongal it was!!!Aisha & me trotted along ......4 floors down & ting tong :-) (Yeah Anush is also a 1st floor neighbour)
Aisha looked so pretty in a polka dotted black & white dress with a matching hair band & a shocking pink shrug (which is Aarushi's). The actuals pongal festivity of rangoli & other things were done by the time we went over but the best part was not over........delicious pongal was still doing it's rounds :-)Paati was at home.........(Anush was out shopping with Aunty) Paati as always greeted me with the same warmth as she welcomed me when I went to Divya's place after tuitions. I still remember the flavour of the maggi noodles & the bournvita she served after we got back home from tuition. :-) Love you always paati :-* mmuuaaah
As Aisha got comfy on the couch Paati went on to serve some of the delicious pongal. I will always remember the taste of the first spoonful of pongal which I relished for quite some time because that bowl never made it's round back to me :-) It just enjoyed Aisha's company :-)
Aisha loved every bit of the Pongal & happily went on with the second helping too.
First Pongal, First one with Aisha, First one with Paati..........and it's a memory I will cherish.
The pic with Paati & Aisha is chhooooo chweeeet :-)
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