hardly any Pongal during Pongal. I can imagine many dutiful homemakers being infuriated by such statements of mine, but that, plainly speaking, is the truth, which is always bitter, unlike chakkara Pongal, another ingredient that has become a delicacy served in temples more than a Pongal speciality. Of course I do not ignore the technicality that whoever is reading this is a part of ultramodern urban settlements where the word ‘courtyard’ and ‘earthen vessels’ are terms that exist only in history books that talk about the Harappa and Mohenjadaro civilizations.

What is such a preachy column on the erosion of Pongal’s importance during a festival doing on Behindwoods, you would think? Your doubt is justified. Actually, I started out this column thinking of something else but the word Pongal made it take a different course which I failed to realize till now. But, let me get started with what I intended to talk about, which happens to be the regular domain of discussion on Behindwoods - movies. I still remember rushing to the village theater for the night show on Pongal to watch Sakalakala Vallavan, which had released a couple of years earlier in the cities. The problem here being that almost the entire village would have decided upon this movie for their Pongal celebrations which would give rise to an impromptu ‘jallikattu’ (though I don’t belong to Palamedu or Alanganallur) in the theater surroundings without any bull. No one minded the fact that we were being handed a movie that had completed several silver jubilees across the state, we just wanted to celebrate Pongal in the best possible way (that is by making a whole lot of noise, riot and confetti throwing) while watching a good movie.

Moved by this vision and with sweet memories buzzing across my mind, I tried to call one of my friends to arrange for an evening show on Pongal for any of the movies that are releasing. He called me crazy (and going by his tone, I expect he had to try very hard to hold back from going further) for wanting to spend money and go to the theater when Sun, Kalaignar etc… were fighting with each other to grab the eyeballs of people like us with back to back movies. Though I felt an initial anger at being butted out of my plan like this, I later (after 30 seconds) felt that he was indeed right, practical. I know that there are still many people who would go out of their homes to catch up with films during the festival week, but there are an even larger number of idiot box advocates.

A while later, I was quite aimlessly browsing and checking my mail for the umpteenth time in the day knowing very well that there is bound to be nothing interesting. But, I came across a Pongal greeting from a friend of mine. I eagerly opened it and found that it was addressed to ‘undisclosed recipients’. I felt a bit agitated upon being addressed as an ‘undisclosed recipient’, anyhow I scrolled down to look at the message and found a graphic representation of a pot boiling over with Pongal, two sugarcanes propped up against each other and the sun shining brightly in the sky. Wow, I expect to see only the sun on Pongal day, the other items will remain only in the e-mail. But, I also remembered a different kind of thing upon seeing the mail; about the kind of greetings that we used to send to friends and relatives. You don’t need to guess that Archies and Expressions were not around then and even if they are available now, I still find them too expensive instruments to say a simple Happy ‘whatever the occasion demands’. I know that most of you feel the same way (except when it comes to girlfriends or boyfriends) which is why I became an ‘undisclosed recipient’. The kind of greetings that we used to send around 20 years back used to be simple and highly fascinating for the average cinema fan. We had cheap (15-20 ps.) cards that featured all the leading stars of our times in stills and poses from their latest films. Kamal Haasan atop the bike in his all black outfit of Sakalakala Vallavan was an all time favorite. There also used to be the iconic MGR greeting cards of two kinds – one that had him in as the film star and the other that showed him with the black goggles and white fur cap, in power in Tamil Nadu. We used to buy many of them and send very few, hoarding the rest as personal souvenirs. I don’t see any ‘Pokkiri’ Vijay or ‘Billa’ Ajith greeting cards these days, guess such silly but enjoyable things are out of vogue.

Anyway, memories or not, another Pongal arrives and we are ready to receive it with both arms. Glad to have a few holidays more than anything else. Wish you a very happy Pongal and enjoy the movies on TV and don’t forget to catch up with the new releases in theaters even if it is a week later. Pongal-O-Pongal.

(By Sudhakar, with inputs from Arun.)

Respond to

Behindwoods is not responsible for the views of columnists.