Two things that come to my mind when I think of Dussehra vacation are my grandparents' home in Gudivada and being the 'Baalamuttaiduva' (the young girl who is prayed as a representation of the Goddess).
Our portion of the house had 3 rooms consisting of a kitchen, a small bedroom where normally four people could sit besides the single cot but was replaced with 5-6 steps decorated with dolls specially saved for the festival time during Dussehra and a hall......one-third of which was covered with a swing made of iron chains, a teapoy table, a dining table, a Godrej shelf and an almirah with innumerable memorabilia. The walls were totally filled with photoframes with portraits of the deceased elders. An ancestral clock also hung on one of the walls and the most striking one among others was the picture of a spectacled and chubby Little Miss Muffet posing sideways with her hands folded and a broad smile. The rest of the house had another portion leased to the tenants, few rooms around the border of the compound wall in totally shattered state that made them unusable, a part of the verandah roofed with tiles, an open verandah, a long backyard, a well and a terrace in poor condition with shaking steps. This description is not intended to portray the house in a negative sense or belittle anyone but to give a picture of what it meant to live there!! I am actually proud of being able to stay in the house at least for a few days during vacation.
My granny had 7 sons and 2 daughters. A couple of elders from the previous generation also stayed with them (my great grandmother, her sister, etc.,). Now, imagine all of their children along with their partners and kids visiting the place for the occasion and staying there for 5-6 days, which is already inhabited by half-a-dozen people, bringing the total population of the portion to 25 members!! The kitchen was devoted to Puja and cooking. The puja has a standard procedure which is followed till date to the T. A six-course meal with a sweet, savory item, dal, curry, pulusu (traditional sambar without onion) and curd, along with crunchy appadams and home-made fryums is offered to the Goddess and special songs from a collection of 20-25 prayers are sung in her praise.
I was the obvious choice for Balamuttaiduva as I was the eldest grand-daughter (eldest daughter's daughter) of my grandparents!! This gave me the privilege to be the first one to start the meal and also the one whom my grandmother offered the first dress on the last day, Vijaya Dasami!! However, as in any other case, with great power came great responsibility!! I had to stay away from solid food (skip breakfast) until it is offered to the Goddess after detailed procedure of making the delicacy of the day and a sumptuous meal, followed by the puja!! The smells and flavors emanating from the breakfast never left my hungry mind which was fed with a glass of milk once again!! Even during lunch, the plate for me was separately placed in the kitchen, while all the others sat in the hall and created a chatter while having food in the hall!! Besides the craving for food, I felt like a queen as everyone was concerned about me and had a soft-corner. I loved the attention. It was just a matter of 5 or 6 Dussehra celebrations, after which I was promoted into the hall and discharged of the duties to enjoy the gathering to the full potential!!
Coming back to the stay in the house, the ladies, children and 2-3 men were to be accommodated in the 12'x12' space left in the hall under a single ceiling fan during nights. The places for each of us was more or less fixed, though there was no set rule and the gathering happened only once a year most of the time. The others slept in the verandahs. Even I can't get how we worked out the way 25-30 years ago!! But, those are the days that still spring into my memory whenever I think of the best times of my childhood!! There was not a second that we wasted without enjoying the togetherness!!
Dussehra has thus become a memorable part of not only my life, but that of all my siblings, parents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Unknowingly, those days have ingrained the process and routine of celebration and association in our minds and inspire the whole family to observe the Navratri with the same aura, sanctity and devotion, wherever we are and however far we stay from the ancestral home. Thanks to the social media that has been facilitating to share the memories of those good old times!!
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