The Things We Make for a Day
Like every year, our festival of Vishu arrives on April 14th. When we were kids, Vishu meant two or three things: early morning firecrackers, Vishu kaineettam, and the sumptuous sadya that followed. But the central activity revolves around the Vishu kani. Late on the previous night, long after most of the family members have gone to sleep, the women of the family would still be awake assembling the Vishu kani. The brass uruli would be brought out and polished until it caught the lamplight. A kolam would be drawn, and rice, fruits, vegetables from the harvest, flowers, a mirror, a lamp, jewellery, Puranas, currencies, new cloth, and the image of Krishna would be placed with care—as if abundance itself were being composed into a still life. Before sunrise, everyone in the household would see this arrangement as their first sight of the day, a moment of bounty and beauty. By evening, however, everything would disappear. If one thinks about it, we Indians seem remarkably comfortable p...