We asked the participants 'What comes to your mind when you think of Navaratri ?'
We received the wonderful thoughts as below:
WINNERS
Subhashree Ravichandran
Colourful divine dolls, piety, veneration of performing arts, warm socialising, athithi Samskara, roots of culture- positivity and energising atmosphere all around.
Srilatha Grama
Positive energy/vibrations in the surroundings on account of all the rituals, a treat to the eyes with all the colourful golus, lovely ladies attired in wonderful sarees, mouth watering dishes.
Krithika Abishek
Golden time for the feminine gender - it is in these nine days, women have a significant role including kanya pengal - right from new born girl babies to old aged sumangalis are considered to be the incarnation of all three Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi and vastras are offered to them and seeking all the three Goddesses’ blessing.
OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Ganesh Venkataramani
i remember the days when i went to next door auntie asking for a fist full of ragi grains... to sow them in front of golu steps... by the last day of navrathri... i would be happy to see a green patch in front of our golu.. arranging small plastic animals n huts made of coconut fibre in the patch was fun.
Jayanthi Pradeep Kumar
decoration,colorful environment, music in the air, divinity, unique ideal gifts for thamboolam, variety of sundals and snacks, songs and shlokas of the three goddesses-Durga, Lakshmi & Saraswathi….
Radhika Mahesh
Bommai kolu, chanting of Lalitha Sahasranamam, chundal, pattu pudavais, jewellery, visiting temple, going to friends and relatives house for vethala pakku.
Priya Rajasekaran
How beautifully dolls are arranged with stories, Thanjavur thalaatti doll, lighting arrangements in the golu steps, musical events, sundal, thambola bag, manjal and sandal prasadam.
Renganathan Chellappa
Different Varieties of Sundal
Ranjani Raghavan
Colourful dolls and Sundal
Lakshmikantham Chebium
Bommaigal
Ayshwarya Desikan
Reunion with friends and family
Rekha Ramanan
Beautiful dolls
Venky Kolluru
Ammavari pooja
Nirmala Narayanan
What theme we can make for kolu. Then think about chundal. Saree jewellery. What song to sing. Visiting houses.
Prabha Sivaram
The beautifully decorated golu steps with dolls
Sundharam CG
My agraharam, Kalpathy,.
Padma Kannan
Sundal
Veenasrivatsa Veenasrivatsa
Beautiful Gods n Godesses
Divya Subramanian
Pattu paavadai, jadai and poo with marudaani filled hands on small girls
Sundararaja Kannan
Whenever I think about NAVARATRI , I want to buy new DOLLS , to place them , besides the old ones .
Pushpa Ramakrishnan
Confusion what to give for ladies who come for haldi kumkum
Girija Muthu
The first thing which comes in mind this year: A daughter has come to our house and we should celebrate and do Pooja to Ambal for the prosperity of the children. Secondly for the world peace.
Karpagam G
sivaji and savithri
Purnima Ramani
Sundal
Ananthi Maniam
Poojai and slokams
Srividhya Srisailam
Dolls... Whichever is new to this year
Lakshmi Ramesh
Thenga, manga, pattani sundal
Jananee Rajaraman
Dolls and creativity
Haripriya Venkatraman
Sundal
Srinithya Ravichandran
Golu!
Venkateshwara Prabhu
Vertrilai pakku pazam poo
Geetha Krishnamurthy
Religious based kitty party full of fun, music and joy and of course petty non-injurious gossip
Padmavathi Raman
Ambal.
Nivedita Subramanyam
Dolls.. Kolu for navarathri and sundal
Girija Prakash
Navratri is one of the best Hindu festivals, when all the nine days, plus Vijaya Dashami, are full of celebration, happiness and contentment. The things I remember are, chanting of Lalitha Sahasranamam everyday, spending more time in the pooja room, offering different kinds of tasty chundals, payasams and prasadams to the omnipresent Devi. I also feel elated to invite ladies to my house and give them manjal kungumam, naariyals, blouse pieces, some gifts along with the prasadams. Remembering the name of God, throughout the day is the highlight of the festival, which I simply adore.
Vidhya Anand
Sundal.. ..a balanced protein variety snack
Prabha S
Cute little angels
Srinivasan Thiruvengadam
கதம்ப சுண்டல்.
Sharada Seetharaman
New theme, old dolls, Decorations, return gifts, everyday sundal, the list goes on..
Asindu Mukundan
traditional and our culture
N Lakshmi Viswanathan
Sundal
Hema Balaji
Azhagu azhagai kuzhandhaigalukku dress seivargal..kunjalam vaithu pinnal , pattu pavadai niraya poo..kayil marudhani...nirraiya gifts ..evai ellame malarum ninaivugal…
Saranya Iyer
Hai.... Kolu.... Sundal.... How can i get this…???
Hema Balaji
Ungathil enna bomai set special vaithirukkenga..avathula enna bomai enna bakchanam .innaikku enna dress idhaellam kuzhandhaigalin Kanavu..friends discussion ..lovely days..adhuvum joined familyil sooper...missing those days
Geetha Swaminathan
Bommakol bakshnam
Kavita Iyer
Navratri implies festivities
Mangalam Sriram
meeting friends and dhandiya
Nivkaranya Karthik
For me it's a nine day festival which I celebrate singing prayers of goddess in the temple and get taamboolam in front of the goddess…
Meenakshi Sriram
My golu bommai and sundal
Annapoorni Iyer
Golupadi
Geeta Ramani
Sundal
Annapurna Muthuraman
Navratri means nine varieties of sundal
Lata Amre
As a child navaratri for me was to collect the various types of kumkum choppu that my amma used to get . Those days gifting was not much as it is today. It used to be only vethalai paaku and thenga along with some innovative kumkum choppu. Even today I still look out for such kumkum choppu . And of course the colourful lovely sarees the ladies used to come in for vethalai paaku.
Jayashree Krishnan
Lalitha sahasranamam .usually recite it on navarathiri, daily minimum 11times. Waiting ....
Melarcode Ramakrishnan Krishnan
Bhakshanam all 10 days !
Muthulakshmi Gurumurthy
What should be the theme this year to set
Suresh Lakshminarayanan
Sundal and paattu
Shankar Subramanian
Paaku vethalai, Manjal kumkumam, Blouse bits, And many other stuff they buy to gift and never use