Jan 15, 2013

Happy Pongal!

a scene near Thirupatur...
Farmers eagerly waiting for customers to buy their Sugarcane.Their Face tells the story....With the new generation more interested in burgers and Pizza's, sugarcane as a Pongal season delicacy is fast becoming history....


Along the Temple wall
A farmer sits all day
With Sugarcane so sweet
Yet, none to buy at all
With sadness in his eye
He looks at every passerby
As If to ponder why
Why none stop to buy?

The festival that he knew
The overflowing pot
The overflowing joy
And a beginning new
are just delusions now
A hopeless holy cow
A future bleak, unsure
With a pointless plough

Times are changing fast
Fresh shoots forget the roots
The meanings that he knew
are figments of the past
The generation of today
Behind burgers, buns & fries
Realize not the bliss
Of Nature’s simple way

 Pongal will remain
Another holiday forever
In memories so sweet
Like his unsold sugarcane
Next year he might have
To a builder sold his land
Then sit by the Temple and laugh
At what we’ll never have…

26 comments:

  1. Good Description ...
    Beautiful.
    Greetings Eko
    Finland / Lapland / Kuusamo
    http://eskoalamaunu.blogspot.fi/

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  2. Happy Pnga to you Ashok.

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  3. Wishing you the very best!

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  4. Brisk business of sugarcane during festival time in Tamilnadu ! Happy Pongal to you too.

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  5. Happy Pongal! And now I know that Thai Pongal or Pongal is a thanksgiving or harvest festival celebrated in South India at the end of the harvest season. And so we live and learn.

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    1. Thanks Granny...Surprised that you know about Pongal...you are amazing!

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  6. Thanks to Granny Annie for the explanation. A very happy Pongal to you and yours also.

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  7. Happy Pongal to you my friend.

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  8. Happy Pongal to you too and missing the karumbu!!!

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  9. Happy Pongal to you as well ~

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  10. Wish you Happy Sankranti.

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  11. Happy Pongal to you and your family, Ashok!

    Typical Pongal time sale picture!

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  12. Anonymous7:01 PM

    Wishing you the same. Lovely that wall!

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  13. I'd like to get a closer look at what appears to be some statuary on top of the building. The red and white stripes are very cheerful, huh?

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    1. Pat...thats the wall of a hindu Temple.

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  14. Happy Pongal, Ashok:)

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  15. wow..beautiful...

    Belated Pongal wishes....

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  16. Thanks everyone for you Pongal wishes!

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  17. I love both the photo and the story behind it. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  18. Hi ashok,

    I have nominated you for the 'Blog of the Year 2012' award. Please check out the links :

    http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/BlogoftheYear/

    :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Ds! I am touched and honored that you selected my blog for the award! I am truly overwhelmed!!!

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  19. after reading some comments i know what Pongal is now. i really like your poems and your art so far. I'll have to come back when I have time and go through some more.

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