Vishu is here.

The pain of a poet to bring out his thought process into words and sentences is too excruciating according to what I have read from great writers. This pain has even been compared to a mother's pain while giving birth to a baby. The mother's hurting is taken off now a days with the rapid advancements of medicine and anesthesia, and so the pain which is mentioned here may not be experienced by many of them, who are in the present era of nanotechnology and cloning.
In my case, it was not such an excruciating pain, but a cloud or uncertainty or dismay that was making my decision making process ambiguous. There were various subjects that rushed through my mind when the idea of filling this month's page stirred, and skimming through them, I ended up choosing Vishu as my topic of this month because this festival has cherished a handful of sweet recollections for me.
When I hear about Vishu, I go back to my childhood days in Thalassery where Vishu is celebrated in the same passion as Onam, which is the national festival of Kerala. Our neighbors, who were all followers of Hinduism except one family who was Muslim, and ours, both of whom celebrated Vishu with full spirits and enthusiasm as Hindus. Even if my family and Mammooka's family were from different religions, we were all part of this celebration because there was no religious rifts between any of us, something part of the pillars on which the whole country is built- Secularism. The first signs of Vishu during our school days were the shops which open in this season exclusively to sell crackers and colorful fireworks which illuminates the sky on the previous night of Vishu and the dawn of Vishu when everybody wakes up for Vishukkani. Every year there may be some new variants of these crackers and fireworks, it may be a new color or it may be one which makes some different noise. They were all big topics of discussion in our class, and so we use to keep updated on the topic, so that we won't be left outdated during those serious discussions.
On the night before Vishu, we use to assemble on the terrace of our house which gives us a spectacular view of the fire bands from all our neighboring houses. This continues till midnight, when everybody goes to bed diligently to wake in the dawn to see the Vishukkani. The Vishukkani is being believed as the first sight for your eye in the New Year on which the whole year ahead relies. Vishu is considered as the astrological New Year day of Kerala even though the first day of the Malayalam calendar is in Chingam. Most of us who does not have this tradition will also be waking up by hearing the thunderous noise of those new crackers which will be around 0400. The noise from the crackers goes on till 0530, when everybody goes to sleep again.
The morning will be awakened by kids and teenagers from our neighborhood knocking on the doors for Vishukaineetam which will be a contribution of money by elders to the youngsters in the family. Even though we don't have any true families around Thalassery, our neighbors were considered as our extended family, and so there won't be any shortage for kids. After the kaineettam kids stop is flocking in, we may have invitations from the neighbors to have lunch in their house. If we cannot make it up there for the lunch, the special payasam will reach our home, which will be in different varieties from each house. I will also be waiting to see all the neighbors who will be dressed in their new costumes which are called Vishukkodi. The evenings will be a bit dull, but this will be the time to reminisce about the previous two days and then start to long for the next Vishu to come.
After being out of Kerala for the past 15 years, I have not got a chance to experience the scent of Vishu. But the thought about those good old days fills my mind on these days. I don't have any idea when I will be able to experience the real taste of Vishu again, and even if I get a chance, I am not sure whether it will be of the same flavor because a lot of people with good heart who resided nearby have already left to heavenly abode. Can we have a Vishu over there in heaven sometime, where we all can meet again???????????