Sankranthi!!

The harvest festival of Sankranthi, which marks the beginning of the transition of the Sun is a much celebrated festival in a few regions of India. For someone like me who gets excited at the thought of festivals, it used to be a much anticipated event in my childhood days. 

Weeks before the actual festival, the good old Malleswaram market wore a festive look and used to be filled with street hawkers trying to sell some goodies - some tiny plastic boxes, trays, plates etc which was usually given along with the traditional yellu-bella mixture. Since we lived close to Malleswaram, it was our go-to place for almost everything. And the market transforms into something extraordinary during festivals. It was a beautiful cacophony of street hawkers trying to strike the best deals from shoppers who thronged the place in hundreds and the never ending honks of passing vehicles. The fragrance of fresh jasmine flowers, the callouts from hawkers who sold fruits and vegetables, vendors who held out a balloon bouquet to attract kids came together to form a great environment.  

We used to go a week ahead of Sankranthi to buy the boxes/plates for our neighbours and ensured we had them all in place before the big day. I remember how painstakingly Amma used to cut the dry coconut, jaggery and roast the peanuts along with some sesame to make a wonderful mixture of yellu-bella which we used to distribute among family and friends. The next step in the process was putting them into small packets. In the absence of zip lock covers, we used candles to seal the top of the covers after filling it with some yellu-bella mixture. A Sunday before the festival was earmarked for making Sakkare achhu at my grandma’s house which was just down the road. They had wooden moulds of different shapes and sizes into which we had to pour hot sugar syrup. It was then allowed to be cooled down a bit during which the sugar syrup hardened to a particular shape. My mother, her sister and grandma used to spend an entire day in making about 100-120 Sakkare achhu for three households. We kids had the privilege of gulping down the delicate sugar figurines as soon as they were ready. We then bought cut pieces of sugarcane, which also marked a vital element of celebrating Sankranthi. 

On the day of the festival, we woke up early, dressed in good clothes and got ready to start the activities for the day. Amma used to make a beautiful rangoli in front of our house and on the doorstep. Our day usually started with receiving the traditional yellu-bella mixture from my grandfather, and as with most households we were treated to a combination of khara and sweet pongal for lunch. The part that I looked forward to the most was the evening! We were a bunch of 6-7 girls, who were all dressed in our festive best attire and got ready with our baskets full of goodies to visit every house in our neighbourhood. I still wonder what it was about the festival that made it so memorable - whether the festive atmosphere, the coming together of families or the chance of connecting with neighbours by visiting them.. or the joy of going together as a group. In about 2 hours time we had covered every house, offering the set of yellu-bella, a piece of sugarcane and the store bought boxes. With our hearts and baskets full, we used to return home to savour the delicacies from different houses. And then it was time for the last event of the day. Our elders made us all sit in a single straight line as they showered us with a combination of cut sugarcane pieces, rupee coins, and bore hannu (Jujube). Inadvertently, there used to be some fights on who gets the maximum sugarcane pieces to chew on. Thus ended the celebration of Sankranthi!!! 

Being thousands of miles away from the hustle and bustle of life in Bangalore, I can’t help feeling nostalgic about the small joys of my childhood days. Undoubtedly they were some of the best days of my life!!