Dinesh Kamath's news item "Padma Ramchandran of Vashi displays attractive Navratri ‘Kolu’" that was published in Newsband

Padma Ramchandran of Vashi displays attractive Navratri ‘Kolu’

By Dinesh Kamath

VASHI: Ten days of Navratri festival is something special for Padma Ramchandran as she waits the whole year to celebrate this occasion in a unique way. Her house at Tapi CHS, Sector 14, Vashi has been witnessing a special social gathering every evening to offer aarti to Ma Durga. She believes that such are occasions when we get chance to meet our friends and relatives.

Dussehra is not just a festival or moment of celebration for her but it is an opportunity to meet old friends and relatives without considering their caste, creed and religion. “With the urbanization, our children do not get chance to know our cultures and relations. These are the occasions when they interact with others,” says Padma Ramchandran.

She has nicely decorated her house for the Navratri, especially the area where she has installed Ma Durga’s idol. Though there is space constraint at her Vashi residence, she has put up various idols of Gods and Goddesses. These well placed idols look very attractive. This whole set up is called Navratri ‘Kolu’.

She has been celebrating Navratri at her home for more than 20 years and she recalls her early years when she started preparation 10 days in advance of the festival. But now, it takes only two days for the preparation. She gets huge support from her husband and son Vivek. In the initial years, she kept fasting the whole day but now she takes Satvik food.

Padma believes in preserving our cultures. “Now we spend most of the time watching television especially with so many channels appearing by just pressing remote button; our actual enjoyment of the festival are on the verge of decline as we hardly get time to celebrate in natural way,” she adds.