The festival of KUMAR PURNIMA (The Full Moon day of Youth) is celebrated in Odisha on the auspicious day of SHARAT PURNIMA, also known as the "Hunters Moon", i.e. the Full Moon immediately following the DASAHARA festival. This year Kumar Purnima is celebrated today.
Unlike the more prominent national festivals of DASAHARA and DIWALI, sandwiched between these two major festivals, the festival of KUMAR PURNIMA is very specific to the state of Odisha. The occasion is perfect when the prickly heat and slushy ground post the monsoon season gives way to a balmy, salubrious weather under a clear blue sky, culminating in full blown "Hunters moon" smiling on top of the sky, playing hide and seek with floating fleecy white cloud.
The young, nubile Odia girls pray on this day aspiring for a handsome groom, her Knight-in-Shining-Armor dream man to lift her in his strong, loving, caring arms to the distant full moon smiling up above the sky. Boys and girls alike attire themselves in their new sets of clothes. Varieties of PITHA (rice based cakes) are cooked at home from the thinner variety called CHAKULI to the baked variety of slightly larger than Golf ball size "ENDURI PITHA", which are no doubt healthy and tasty, but BIRI or lentil component in it produces a lot of gas. My favorite is the rice based MANDA PITHA which is stuffed with grated coconut laced with jaggery.
During our childhood days, we used to have an extended Puja vacation in our village near Puri, with the much awaited Kumar Purnima a fitting finale to the extended Puja holidays. My first memory goes back to 1976, exactly 48 years ago under a sparkling silver moon, we kids would moon around the tall coconut trees, creating clouds of dust in the surrounding, still struggling to digest the sumptuous lunch of NADIA KHECHADI (ghee laced yellow rice with sprinkled grated coconut), Sweet Dal and an array of other delicacies, singing together...
JANHI PHOOLA THO THA,
KAKUDI PHOOLA THO THA.
GUNDUCHI MUSA KAHI JAUCHI CHAULA MUTHE THOI THA.
roughly transliterated...
Ridge Gourd flowers go burst,
Cucumber flowers go burst.
The Squirrel has spread message,
Keep a handful of Rice for forage.
Today 48 years later, I stand in my backyard under a spotless blue sky on a cool, windy evening deriving vicarious pleasure of another time looking at the fulll moon rising behind a starry sky through the pine trees - the virtual substitute for the coconut trees back home, as the swaying, chirping little birdies crisscross the crimson sky of the twilight. The plumpy feral cat in my backyard chases away a squirrel, reminding me of the lanky kitty cat staring at us kids in our village from a safe distance as we went frolicking around the coconut and betel nut trees.
The slowly rising full moon goes hiding behind the pine trees, as the leaves swaying to the wind gusts try to wipe the dirt off its surface like a wiper cleaning a car windshield, giving me a clear view of the rabbit on the moon. An array of Pelicans pass by cawing PAAON PAAON. The brightly moonlit yellow dandelion flowers leaves look brighter, smiling at me, reminding my good old childhood days and the nostalgic memories of a bygone era to cherish forever. HAPPY KUMAR PURNIMA TO ALL.
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