New Year's

The dawn of the new year

Gudi Padwa is the Maharashtrian new year’s day. In the early hours of the morning, the Gudi was set up and worshipped. Just after the regular puja was completed. The gathis (sugar wafers that are threaded together to form a garland) were bought the previous evening. This goes with the neem leaves as part of the gudi but there were extra ones to give to any children who would come and also for anyone who would like to eat them. Once the pooja was complete, the house resounded with Kumar Gandharva’s voice and the cassette we had would play through the morning. There was a lavish meal as usual – either shrikhand – puri or pooran poli along with aluchi paatal bhaji, bhaat, varan, bhaji, koshimbir, chutney, lonchi, papad for the family.

In the afternoon there would often be music performances nearby and depending on what the plans for the evening were we would go to listen to some classical music. All the day through friends and family would drop by to seek Aji's blessings on the auspicious occasion of the New Year. 

Panha and dal 

The Chaitra month that begins with Gudi Padwa brought with it raw mangoes. And the dal with raw mango and panha were something we would wait for through the monsoon and winter months. Panha is a tangy drink made by boiling raw mangies and mixing the pulp with water, jaggery/ sugar and adding a little salt and chilli powder. Some add ground elaichi/ cardamom powder instead of chilli powder. 

The dal is quite exotic. Channa dal or Bengal gram dal would be soaked in water for around six hours or so and then kept in a sieve, for an hour so that it has no water left. This would then be pound coarsely and grated raw mango is added to it. A coarsely ground mixture of green chillies, cumin and salt would be further added to it and then tempered with hot oil with crackling mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves. This was then mixed well and served.

Tantalizing and often the first taste of raw mangoes for the season.