Recently I met a young travel content creator who said his priority will always be content creation and not so much, the travels. Travelling, he said is just a means to create content and build and create his brand on social media.
And that made me think. I realized that mine has always been the other way around. Travel has always been sacred to me. It’s sacrosanct and personal and I cannot lay bare every moment, every experience, every feeling, and thought which has touched and moved me. I started creating content initially as a storyteller, a writer/blogger to share my travel experiences with my “tribe”. Stories can still be narrated but some experiences are private and intimate. But then with social media, I hardly see anything that is personal anymore - every moment of our lives has become an exhibit for the world and oversharing is the norm. It feels like our lives are being curated as content pegs and pieces. Where do you draw the line? Is there a balance? Just saw this on Instagram today and it made me think…
Hello and welcome to the October issue of Journeys and Jottings. Let me start with a few recommendations for you this month.
Books - Malice by Keigo Higashino. The same Japanese crime novelist who penned The Devotion of Suspect X which has been adapted for the Netflix show Jaane Jaan. I haven’t seen it yet though.
Show - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and more short films based on Roald Dahl’s stories by Wes Anderson. It’s on Netflix and if you like me love Roald Dahl, then all the films are amazing.
Podcast - Shortcast over Coffee on Spotify and other platforms where Bala Devarajan speaks to fascinating people from musicians to writers. My friend Nandita Iyer who writes Sattva was featured and grateful that she recommended me as well. You can listen to the episodes here - Part one and Part 2
Substack Recommendations - I have been looking for a few travel writers on Substack and would recommend Marco & Sabrina from One Hundred Years of family food memories
Welcome to my virtual Golu
The divine court of Goddess Durga is recreated in most households of South India in the form of Golu or Kolu as it is called for nine days during Navaratri and Dussehra. The slaying of Mahishasura by Durga is celebrated over nine days. While Dussehra also represents the victory of good over evil (Vijayadasami), it also refers to the slaying of demons residing inside us, in the form of negative emotions and energies.
While most of India celebrates the Durga Puja, Dussehra in different ways, women in South India celebrate Navratri Golu or Kolu or Gombe Habba or Bomma Koluvu mainly in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
The word Kolu ( I call it Golu as Ka and Ga are phonetically the same in Tamil) comes from the word, “Kolu Veetriruthal” meaning the divine court at home, including the presence of Gods and Goddesses, saints and seers, kings and queens and ordinary mortals. Dolls or Bommai are arranged in steps (usually odd numbers) and they are artistic creations of Hindu Gods and Goddesses and their stories.
The steps represent the spiritual progression of humans and hence, in the last step, you can see a display of snippets from human life - be it a marriage procession or a concert or a vignette of village life or representation of potters and weavers, merchants and traders. The Kalasam is kept in the centre denoting devotion as we move upwards from the basic activities of human life towards spirituality. And the Gods and Goddesses adorn the highest steps, depicting legends and myths as well.
To me, it is more of a connection with my childhood where I got mesmerized by Hindu mythology and legends. I grew up creating parks and zoos with my cousins while the elders arranged the dolls and I heard so many stories - hence the fondness for this festival. I used to celebrate Navratri Golu every year and colourful clay and wooden figurines of Gods and Goddesses jostle for space with mortals as Ram and Krishna are displayed along with cobblers and snake charmers.
My Golu is still not ready this year but until then, you can read about this post on Golu stories from Issue 38.
100 Stories from India - Kondapalli Toys
My fascination for the traditional toys of Kondapalli started with a family heirloom – a faded, quaint wooden toy representing the deities, Rama and Sita along with Lakshmana and Hanuman. Painted in shades of teal, green, beige, and red, the miniature was set in a frame and had an old-world charm about it. It was no mere toy – the handcrafted figurine was given to me by my mother who had received it from her grandmother and since then, it had become a permanent fixture in my Navaratri golu – the festive display of gods and goddesses, demons and mortals with stories crafted around them. This eventually led me to start collecting more wooden dolls and toys and that passion took me to the portals of the Kondapalli village, located barely 25 kms from Vijayawada city in Andhra Pradesh.
All roads led to the Bommala Kondapalli toys Colony or the Toys Colony of Kondapalli located in the centre of the village, home to about 80 families of artisans, tracing their origins to the patron saint of arts and crafts, Muktharishi, who was blessed by Lord Shiva. Houses, workshops, and shops were huddled together where the toys were carved out of the local softwood referred to as Tella Poniki also called white sander. The traditional toys of Kondapalli are over 400 years old and it is believed that the artisans referred to as Nakarshalu or Aryakhastriyas, migrated from Rajasthan and were later patronized by the local kings.
Looking around, I saw an array of Bommala Kondapalli toys as they are called here, painted in vivid shades of vegetable dyes or vibrant enamel hues. Tinted in hues of bright red and yellows, blues and greens, the artisans explained that they now mix oil and water paints as well to bring out the eye-popping colours. However, I was fascinated by the miniature toys themselves.
The artisans elaborated on the process. Every part of the toy is chiseled separately from the soft and malleable wood and is then joined together. The craftsmen added that they make a paste, where sawdust is blended with coarse powder made with tamarind seeds which are later applied as glue to stick the parts of the toys together.
Scenes from mythology were carved in wood. Rama and Krishna were their favourite deities. I could also see tiny representations of Dasavatharam or the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu. I was fascinated by the details as vignettes of life from rural life played out in front of me. There was a farmer with a bright red turban sitting on his bullock cart.
Elsewhere a marriage procession was going on as the bride and bridegroom were carried by the palanquin-bearers Musicians performed, birds sang, soldiers paraded on elephant back, a toddy tapper climbed the tree, a snake charmer posed with his pungi while a wooden cobra lay curled quietly in a basket. The artisans paid homage to fellow craftsmen and women by carving them in wood as well. The dancing girls with golden crowns on their heads shook their heads and swayed their hips gently as they were sculpted out of paper mache. Every toy had such an endearing appeal that I felt like a child in a candy store.
While the traditional toys of Kondapalli are now registered as one of the GI (geographical indication) handicrafts from Andhra Pradesh, Kondapalli is not just another toy town. It has another historic destination with a formidable presence. Rising from the densely forested hills is an imposing fortress and palace. Shrouded in an aura of mystery and fantasy, the majestic ruins gave our fairy tale vibes.
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Many of the traditions and festivals are fading away due to the advancement of technologies, especially mobile phones and OTT platforms. People have no time for these festivals, which were once celebrated grandly when there was a lack of today’s entertainment possibilities. The irony is that those festivals brought people together, whereas today’s technologies keep them away.
Very nice article reminding the traditions and their values.
A suggestion, maybe you can write about the places where the kings like Cholas, Pandiyas, Cheras, etc. once lived, travel to those places, if possible.
Thanks so much for the shoutout, Lakshmi!