All the Hindu temples seem to be currently busy with a festival called Aadi. Actually there are so many festivals and gods and goddesses to pray for that I am always a bit confused with all those celebrations. Today I happened to branch through the Sri VeeramKaliamman Temple in Little India which was hugely crowded. The Aadi has something to do with the worshipping of water. The story tells me that at embankments on rivers, in olden days when dams were unknown, women from farming families prayed to the river to flow perennially to enable them raise three crops in the year. River mother, they prayed, on you depends our livelihood! Wearing new clothes and carrying chitranna - sweet pongal, tamarind rice, coconut rice, lemon rice, and a variety of side dishes including pappad, vadagam, chutney, and buttermilk - they went to riverbanks and worshipped the river waters with traditional offerings like coconut, plantain, betel leaf and areca nut. Hailing the flowing river as Mother Kaveri, they adorned her with ear ring and black beads.
