I woke up this morning and fell in love with Chennai winter all over again. The nip in the air was perfect. Yes, I know quite a few people complain it was cold but I rejoiced. I was thinking about taking a walk around the neighbourhood to watch the creative and crafty decorate their doorsteps with intricate designs and colours. Maybe I will let kuttyma tag along, I thought with a smile. We seem to bond over such stuff.

The kolam kuttyma made with lots of help from her grandma

The smoke in the air made me sneeze and sneeze and sneeze.  Apparently kuttyma inherited not just my reading genes. She sneezed too. We had a sneezing competition (and I won!!). We spoke about the polluted air around us and Bhogi.

“It’s Bhogi”, I told her. “The day to symbolically dust the cobwebs, burn the frayed ties of the past and embrace the new. A new slate – gleaming and full of promise. Traditionally bhogi is celebrated by burning the old – literally everything gets burned.”

She shook her head – her curls bobbed along as she solemnly declared “It is not good.” I attempt to raise an environmentally-aware child. We talk pollution, green house warming and endangered species frequently at home and today I wondered how I will explain an age-old tradition that needs to go to my environmentally conscious daughter.

A symbolic pile of ash – burnt, polluted mass left in the corner

We don’t do the symbolic cleaning and burning for Bhogi. We have moved away from that tradition and embraced Pongal to suit our modern day lives. The balance works for us but the smoke this morning made me realise that not many people think of the environment before embracing age-old traditions.

Bhogi in 2015 kind of defeats the concept of the festival – the old needs to go. The unclean burning, polluted air needs to go. It is a desperate cry from the air around us and the people breathing it. Maybe we can see a greener Bhogi in 2016.

Smack in the middle of the road – a perfect spot of Bhogi burns

Pongal Wishes