Introduction: A Lifelong Tradition Meets Fresh Inspiration
Navratri Golu is not new to me - nor to us as a family. Over the past five decades, I have seen a variety of golus in houses and, in recent years, in institutions like Shanmukhananda and Fine Arts Chembur. This year, I understand that our local Sri Varasiddhi Vinayagar Devasthanam at Sion Koliwada has also started keeping Navratri Golus.
However, some golus immediately make you take out your mobile camera and start clicking away - maybe because of the unique dolls, or maybe because of the way the dolls have been arranged, whatever the reason. My visit yesterday to see a few unique golu bommais prompted me to come out with this write-up. Regular golu visitors, family members, and the relatives I visited yesterday may not find this new, but to me, it was and is quite special.
(The bommais which I saw yesterday - which inspired me to write this article)
Evolution of the Padis: From Aluminium Dabbas to Bolted Iron and Fibre
Normally, a standard golu contains an odd number of steps (padis). My earliest memory of golu in our house was when we used to balance wooden planks on equal-sized aluminium dabbas on both sides. The ubiquitous household table served as one of the steps, while our aluminium school dabbas - shaped and sized like modern office briefcases - served as the bottom-most padi.
Later, we graduated to getting two identical wooden frames custom-made. A few days before Navratri, we had to bang wooden planks onto these frames as side support. Invariably, after the initial few years, the planks would give away, and we had to get alternative planks to serve the purpose. This went on until maybe 1992 or 1993.
After I got married in 1994, I remember buying a nut-and-bolt golu padi set from Giri Stores in Matunga, which we still use. Of course, this has been painted and re-painted every six or seven years and still looks quite new and obviously sturdy. I understand that now, much lighter plastic or fibre golu padis are very popular.
Invariably, Navratri would be the social highlight of our family (and I am sure in most lower- and middle-income Tambrahm families). All family members would get involved in the setting up of the golu padis.
Preparing homemade glue with wheat flour was a pre-golu highlight. This was used to paste colourful papers onto the bare frames and padis. Some households used a shiny saree or a dhoti as a backdrop on the padis on which the dolls would later be placed. The next step would be unpacking the carefully packed dolls and arranging them on the steps, mostly theme-wise: Ashta Lakshmi, a marriage set, Shiva-Parvati, and so on. A Marapachi pair was an absolute must.
The Golden Era: School and College Days (1970s & 1980s) and "Specials"
The next couple of paragraphs are devoted to how I remember seeing golus during my school and college days- somewhere in the 1970s and 1980s. Several families, including ours, used to have a separate "special" every year. A "special" is a highlight that is part of the golu, but kept near it separately. This would mostly be a religious theme - like the Tirumala hills or Palani Malai, a temple with ponds, and the like.
I remember an instance of having the Tirumala Hills in our house where a couple of large buckets of sand were procured, piled along the wall, arranged, and set up like a hill, on top of which a miniature figurine of Balaji / Perumal was placed. Tiny steps would be carved into the "hill."
Another theme I remember was a temple with ponds - a huge Styrofoam (thermocol) container playing the role of a pond in which water would be kept. The container would be camouflaged with paintings, mostly stripes of red and white indicating a temple pond. In small city apartments, due to space constraints, most of the special highlights would be placed below the golu padi!
The Tradition Today: Evolving Roles and Continuing the Legacy
We still have the special, but at a lower scale - below the golu padi. A couple of years back, it was an elaborate one: Shiva and Parvati with Ganesha, Karthikeya, Nandi, Narada, and rishis in the Himalayas. Cotton wool served as snow, a light blue saree represented snow-clad mountains, and a small plastic drum served as the mountain top on which the universe’s first family was displayed. In another year, it was a Ganesha visarjan scene. But mostly, it would be a garden set.
In the past few years, my involvement with golus and Navratri is limited to helping the family set up the golu, mounting and dismantling the padis, helping unpack and repack the dolls, and storing them away safely till the next year’s golu. And of course, scouting for unique items whenever we visit new places, including several foreign countries, to keep in our golu.
After easing from my professional work over the last few years, I have also started visiting relatives and friends to participate fully in the socialization.
Loved it . A much required tribute for this ancient tradition. Let's think of some innovative themes for the Golu next year .
ReplyDeleteA good write up.A few lines about your mum could have been written.The passion with which she made the dolls and decorated them beautifully.
ReplyDelete