On light and the sun

Light on Pongal Day

Thai Pirandal Vazhi Pirakkum

I had the opportunity to celebrate Pongal in Chennai and then at Chicago in the other end of the world. I celebrated as everyone did in memory of the light of the sun. There was the kolam with white powder and red mud, a design of a chakra resembling the sun at the open space outside the house where I kept the bronze pot tied with the tuber of turmeric, hot with the cooked Chakkara Pongal. In Chicago, watching the Pongal Kalai Vizha celebrations by the Chicago Tamil Sangam at the Aurora Balaji Temple, it hardly felt I was in a place that was culturally, socially, environmentally and climatically different from Chennai!

Thai Pirandal Vazhi Pirakku is a proverb in Tamil. I subscribe wholly to the truth, on which I did some scientific research too in my own capacities! There is a certain period of the year, when the sun is at its peak of activity and really at its peak, once in 11 years, called the Solar Maximus. The flare winds of the sun throws up the largest during that time. The Universe is so beautifully interconnected that the expansion of one object, causes an impact on another. When the activity of the sun is high, there is more light energy in the air. The energy of light helps humans to think better, rather brightens up their consciousness. And when the brightening up happens, they are able to come up with brilliant ideas and solutions for problems that they couldn't figure out what to do about till then. That's my understanding why they could have said the way is born in the month of 'Thai.'

An article that I wrote in The Hindu on Light on Pongal Day! The photo is children singing Vande Mataram and other songs to celebrate the Pongal Kalai Vizha under the auspices of the Chicago Tamil Sangam at the Aurora Balaji Temple.

- Swahilya.