Durga Puja : Navratri : Dussehra

Today is MahaNavami and the last day of Navratri. Some reminiscences of my childhood wanted to share here..
My father is a Central Govt officer because of which we have travelled places. Thou, getting transferred every 7 years to a new place, leaving old friends, getting accustomed to the new place, roads, people, the environment, the language, the surrounding, etc used to be a challenge. Still, the interesting thing was learning the traditions of the state, their culture and language. The opportunity to interact with new people and making new friends, plus we also got a chance to visit all the other cities nearby in the state.
Talking about the traditions, each place had its own different way of celebrating the festivals.
Come October and there begins Durga Puja.

In Madras (now Chennai), people celebrate these 9 festive days by building artificial steps in their home and placing dolls (Golu / Kolu). They decorate the steps with lights, flowers and rangoli. People visit each other’s homes to see the exhibition. The dolls mostly depict Hindu Gods & Goddesses. I had got the chance to see these at my neighbors and friends place. And the Prasadam that they made was also superb. Dussehra is considered the most auspicious day, hence Goddess Saraswati is worshipped and children commence their learning of classical dance & song on this day.

When we got transferred to Bhubaneshwar, celebration here was totally different. This festival here is observed for 10 days to honour Maa Durga (Shakti) for her victory of good over evil. Massive images of Maa Durga are installed on decorative Pendals and Puja is performed. There are competitions between Pendals for being the best decorated one.
At Cuttack, we could see the Durga idols bejewelled with Silver filigree work, locally known as Chandi Medha. It is a delight to see the entire city, adorned with lights and other decoratives.We used to specially go to see those pendals at Cuttack.There is so much of celebration in the air. Schools and colleges have puja holidays and that adds to the charm as crowds pour into the Puja Mandaps to enjoy the festivities
On Mahashtami. Oriya women celebrate Bhaijiutia, a fasting carried out for whole day to seek Goddess Durga's blessing for the long life of their bhais
Finally on last day, i.e Dussehra, the Puja Idols are taken in a spectacular procession for immersion in the river. Also, on this auspicious day, Puja is performed for all the electronic household items, vehicles, books, pen etc for the blessings of Maa Durga & Saraswati.
In the evening, we get to see Ravana poda, where huge effigies of Ravana are loaded with crackers and burnt to mark the triumph of good over evil. The fireworks are a spectacular sight. Me and my cousins had made it a point every year to see this event.

5-6 days later, the full-moon day after Dussehra is celebrated in Orissa as Kumara Purnima (also called Sharat Purnima) and on that day, people worship Goddess Lakshmi - the Goddess of Wealth and also the moon. Wearing new clothes, we used to be awake all-night & have many sessions of playing Cards. Thou it’s not a form of gambling but we enjoyed meeting all relatives and counting the amount of money we won at the end of the night.

Cut to 2000, we shifted to Ahmedabad, and there I experienced another unique form of celebration for these 9 days. Here, mostly celebration begins at night with worship and dance, hence Navratri..The entire state gets rejuvenated at the night. For the first time I saw a tradition where everyone enjoys, from a little child to the oldest one. Everyone who stays in Gujarat by default knows the two danceforms - Garba and Raas and they swing to the tunes dedicated to Maa Ambe all night. The colors, the lights, the enthusiasm makes everyone enjoy to the full. The interesting part is seeing all the girls and guys being in perfect sync while dancing. Navratri in Ahmedabad has been a real lovely experience. And Dussehra is incomplete without the special Fafda & yummy Jalebis.

Missing all these years and looking forward for another exciting experience in future.

HAPPY DUSSEHRA. May Maa Durga bless us all.

Jahni Alu Posto

Another Oriya specialty which I tried last evening, turned out quite well. Surprisingly my friend was very impressed with it and I promised to share the recipe of Jahni Alu posto with her. The name doesn’t click to non oriyas, so for them it’s a dish made of Ridge gourd and khus khus and very much unique to oriya cuisine with no masala at all.
Don’t know what else can be prepared with this vegetable, except 2, one that I learned at my house ( Jahni Kaari) and other that is more often eaten at hubby’s house (jahni alu posto).
Though the preparation varies from home to home, my version is very simple and purely suited to our taste buds and preference. So here it is.

Jahni Alu Posto ( For 4, Preparation time : 20 mins)

Ingredients:

3 medium sized Ridge gourd (Jahni/Dodka/Turiya)
2 medium sized Potatoes (Alu)
1 Onion
½ tsp mustard seeds
8-9 cloves of garlic
6-7 cashewnuts ( Kaju)
1 tbsp KhusKhus ( Posto) soaked in water for half an hour
3 green chillies
5-6 curry leaves
2 tsp Oil

Preparation:

Remove the edges from skin of Ridge gourd.
Cut the potatoes, onion and ridgegourd in thin n medium length sizes.
Make a paste of garlic, khuskhus and kaju
Heat oil in a Kadhai and put in the mustard seeds & curry leaves
Add the onions and green chillies and let it fry
Then fry the ridgegourd and potatoes.
Add salt acc to taste
Mix in the paste and cook on medium heat, till its cooked.
Add little milk, if consistency is too thick.
Serve Hot with Chapatis.

Enjoy Cooking!!!

Tomato - Khajuri Khatta

This is my post after almost a month, cos I didn’t have anything substantial to write. Suddenly an idea struck to me to write a little bit about my other hobby (hobby out of compulsion) and that is Cooking. Thou I am still a Learner and haven’t got my permanent license yet, some of my experiments do turn out well and i get praises from few, apart from the only victim of my so called culinary skills, my Hubby.
Yesterday being an Sunday and having bunked college, I had all the time to prepare for a perfect lunch consisting of Pakhala, Machha fry (bhaja) and Mashed Alu with badi chura. Later in the evening our friends were to come, so on demand of hubby, I prepared one of the most unique and easiest dish of Oriya household.
Tomato- Khajuri Khatta, which normally acts as a side dish with dal, rice and vegetable fry else it can be taken alone with Vegetable Pulav. Below I have tried to give my version of the khatta.

Tomato- Khajuri Khatta. (For 4, Preparation time: 10 mins)
Ingredients:

4-6 juicy Tomatoes
4-6 pieces of seedless dates (Khajur)
3 tbsp jaggery
Pinch of salt
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp mustard seeds (sorisa), cumin seeds (jeera) and fennel (saunf) mixed
1 tsp cooking oil

Preparation:

Cut the tomatoes into small pieces.
Heat the oil in the kadhai and put in the mustard seeds, jeera and saunf
Then add the chopped tomatoes and the salt
Fry till tomatoes become soft.
Add in the jaggery, dates and chilli powder.
Cook in medium heat till the tomatoes are boiled completely & gravy becomes thick.
Serve it hot /cold. Anything will do.

Enjoy Cooking !!!

Bande Utkala Janani ...

Last night while browsing thru the TV channels, we happened to get stuck at this show on NDTV Good times called “Highway on my Plate” . The 2 anchors on the show are on a long journey from Varanasi to Tamilnadu, and in-between they get the chance to taste the best offerings on the highway dhabas. What caught my eyes was the dhaba that they were showing at the moment - Chilka Dhaba.

Now for all those who do not know, Chilka is a place in Orissa, famous for being the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia, also called the “Bird watcher’s paradise” and it has a lot of freshwater fish, crab & prawns to offer. That is what those 2 guys were having, a special crab curry & chilli prawns.. And it looked Yummy!!

When I arrived at Ahmedabad for my graduation, the most common question asked to me in my college was where did I come from. The moment my classmates heard the name ‘Orissa’ their expressions used to fall. Orissa – Yeh kahan pe hai?? South India mein hei kya? Woh Nagaland ke paas hei kya ? Wahan bhi aise ghar, roads hei kya ? and many more.. That’s when I realized, people are so ignorant of my state. Well I would not blame them, it is the picture that has been created by the media and our politicians - Orissa, a poor state, with starving people, no food, no shelter, no economy.

But the actual scenario has never come to the notice of people who do not belong to Orissa. No doubt there are certain sections that really have such a picture, but certainly that is not the entire story. Every state has such divisions where a part of people are struggling and are under poverty level. That is true even to Mumbai, which houses to the extreme economy of people, i.e the rich & the poor.

Why isolate Orissa? It also has a rich history and cultural heritage. Jagannath Puri is one of the Chardhams marked important by Hindu pilgrimage. Plus Oriya people have proven themselves in all the fields, whether it is Administration or Literature, Science or IT. The major steel & IT companies have invested here.
Not to forget, the unique cuisine of Orissa. The seafood, the vegetarian delicacies & also the wide variety of sweets.Chhena poda, rasgulla, chennagaja, etc .History says the famous Rasgulla was invented in Orissa, but became more well-known as a Bengali sweet because, the brahmin cooks from Puri, were routinely employed in richer Bengali households during the Bengal renaissance. As a result Oriya specialties got integrated into Bengali kitchen.

Well there is so much to talk abt my native and that is why I got inspired to write something during a project in my last semester, wherein we had to design a webpage. And I slogged for some 15 days to come out with this.Thou it may not be a extensive page, I have managed to put in some pics and facts related to Orissa. My Professor still remembers me for this. He had rated mine to be the best among the others and I was happy that I cud atleast change the mindset of few who thot of Orissa otherwise. And its not only Non-Oriyas that have this outlook, I have come across many Oriyas too who are not aware of their wonderful state. But I have no qualms in saying that. I am proud to be from Orissa. !!!

A few lines from my webpage ::
Click on this for the whole page : Sonali

Seeing is believing and unless you get to see the beauty of Our Orissa you can never get the true essence of her exquisite beauty. It has not only the bounties of nature liberally sprinkled but also the marvels created by human hands in shape of Sculptures and other ancient monuments.
Amazing Seas, Temples, Lakes, Waterfalls, Wildlife, Monuments, Hotsprings, Tribals, Colourful Fairs & Festivals, Enchanting Dances and Rare Artistry, Orissa, a perfect blend of natural beauty and creativity, has it all.