South Indians in Pune celebrate Navratri in their own way

While Bengalis in the city are soaking in their traditional Durga Puja, south Indians in Pune are busy celebrating Navratri in their own way, with the festival of Golu.

A colourful festival, popular in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, it involves praying to various deities. A unique feature of this festival is the odd number tiers where various figurines are stacked and tastefully decorated.
Figurines of gods, goddesses and animals are commonly used to decorate the tiers, which are called ‘padi’ in Tamil.

Uma, wife of Zensar Technologies’ global chief executive officer, Ganesh Natarajan, has been celebrating the festival enthusiastically for the last 20 years. She told DNA, “For me, this is an opportunity to connect with art, craft and everything that is beautiful, while worshipping the divine mother.”

Usha Govindan, another Tamilian in the city said, “Married women are called home to worship the gods and they are given small gifts similar to the haldi-kunku programme in Maharashtra,’’ she said. Feeding of young girls also forms an intrinsic part of the celebrations of Golu.

Another citizen, Bhavani Venkateshwaran, explained a different way of celebrating Golu, as she worshipped three different forms of the goddess: Lakshmi, Parvati and Saraswati. “This cyclic worship for three days each is a unique feature in our family,’’ she said.

Like other festivals, Golu has a strong agrarian link, as the figurines are made from clay from de-silting of
irrigation canals.