HEARTHS OF DEVOTION….HEARTHS OF EMOTION

 Lunar month of kumbham every year, buzzes with activity, 

God’s own capital , bursting with the Womenfolk in frenzy, 

Collecting dry palm leaves as fuels, for months, way ahead, 

Traffic freezes to a halt, cops have a hell of a time in the city. 

Women from all walks of life, unabatedly pour into the capital, 

Heaps of earthern pots spring in sizes, yet vanish in no time, 

Bricks almost lining the footpath for miles and miles in stretch. 

What’s this all about, the doubting tourist may ask for sure.

They offer pongal, tamil name for rice pudding, still in place, 

Pyre lit all over, reminds us one’s ego and jealousy in fire, 

Congregation reminds, communal harmony, dispelling hatred, 

Women’s pivotal role in the family and the society survives. 

A helpless little girl trapped in a river, sinking and pleading, 

An old man performing oblations in the river, rushed in haste, 

Child in turn, showed him a place and disappeared in a trice. 

The old man saw in his dream the girl in the goddess mold. 

A shrine in the site, little girl had pointed, was the mythology, 

Second one points the furious kannaki, burning the kingdom, 

For a wrongful murder of her husband, for theft of anklets. 

Later a pacified kannaki passed through the capital, for penance. 

As the rice gets cooked, sending them into shrieks of merriment, 

Hearth of emotion prevails as the hearth of devotion precedes 

Year long waits leads to an accomplished mode of achievement. 

Praying for many more attempts ,for the welfare of their family. 

Surpasses the records for an event of such nature, one wonders, 

Passing years, the counts be in ascendancy, an awe inspiring feat, 

Sends a message too, fire destroys thy evils, lust and greed, 

Same fire sends waves of ablutions to set thy family bonds tight