Tilgul ghya, god god bola

Somehow in time today. Wishing you all a very happy Makar Sankranti! Growing up I associate food like revadi, gajak and murmura laddoos with Sankranti, sugarcane too and a visit to the temple to give something to the priest. My brother and me would finish a whole steel dabba of laddoos in a single day:) I also remember my Bong classmates would not eat ber so early, not until Saraswati Puja was over.

In Himachal, we celebrated this Lohri together as a colony get-together  It was only in B'bay that I came to associate the tradition of kite-flying with Sankranti and learnt of Uttarayan being celebrated in Gujarat. We had a standing invitation to spend the day at my Masi's. It was a joint family then. The boys and men of the house literally spent the whole day on the terrace flying their kites and challenging friends and neighbors on surrounding terraces. Oh, what shapes and colours, what enthusiasm and  fun! I remember the chikkis at Masi's place and how generously she would always pack some for the hostel. In our hostel tuck-shop til-guls would be sold.

Post marriage, I came to know of the tradition in Karnataka of giving ellu-bella (a mixture of sesame seeds, jaggery and coconut pieces) to all relatives and friends. And haldi-kumkum for visitors at home.  Here, I made some murmura laddoos, and gave the kids bath with til and oil, made my version of khichdo (a khichdi with some extras like whole wheat, pearl barley etc). Called it a day. Then to answer Big G's  question of why it is done this way did some preliminary research here and here . Hopefully I can remember  enough to tell her. And she is interested.  Because she has moved on to other questions within the minute - what is the world made of?? What are numbers trying to tell us??

P.S - I am not too happy with my close to midnight postings. To all  my fellow bloggers juggling many balls and putting up their posts bright and early, my sincere respects. Here's to two more weeks.