Shivarathri Celebrations in our village…

Shivarathri Celebrations in our village…

This was the first time that I have witnessed the Shivarathri celebration in our village. It was a truly a beautiful experience. It surely had to do with the low scale and the simplicity of the function.

A procession of the Nataraja idol on a kid elephant was taken out and going all around the main roads of the village. The procession reached the temple at around 6:30 p.m. and after the usual circumambulation of the temple with the Panchavadaym, the idol was taken inside and all the lamps around the temple were lit by the kids and the women folk and the Deeparadana was shown. A retired Air Force Master Warrant Officer and I witnessed the entire proceedings. I later on took the rt. Officer back to his house and came home to have dinner and a couple of drinks.

The last of the celebrations was the Thayambaka (Keralite Percussion). I had to almost run about a kilometre to witness this assemble, as the show had started, and it was worth the run. The lead artist is my neighbour Mr. Chandran. The setting was just perfect to the last word. The temple is in the midst of rubber trees, banyan trees and open fields. The entire orchestra consisted of about six people and they rocked, and I was exhilarated.

I think it was a perfect way to end the day, by watching a live performance. I will never forget that evening and hope to witness more and more of such exuberant and simple festivities in the future. There were about 25 to 30 people in the audience and someone commented about the better audience this time around and he seemed to be happy about it. I think it is a sign of better times to come.