Malayalis, Bengalis to usher in New Year today with pujas, sweets

PUNE: It is festive time in the city once again with major celebrations planned by the Malayali and Bengali communities on Tuesday, the beginning of the new year for both the communities.
"Celebrated as Vishu in Kerala, the day is believed to be ideal for sowing seeds for the next crop. It is a celebration of prosperity and a common belief that planting seeds now will result in a golden harvest," said K V Sankaranarayanan, a Malayali playwright, who lives in the city.
As per the tradition, seeing an auspicious thing at the crack of the dawn on Vishu will bring luck for the whole year. "That is the reason why women in every house take great pains to prepare the 'Vishukani', a ritual arrangement of all auspicious things like rice, fruits and vegetables, betel leaves, arecanuts, flowers among other things in the prayer room. 'Kani' literally translates to 'which is seen first', therefore, 'Vishukani' refers to the first thing one sees on Vishu. Everyone is led into the prayer room with their eyes shut so that it is the first thing they see in the morning," explains Sankaranarayanan.
To mark the festival, the city-based Malayali Cultural Centre Vakdevatha has prepared a special souvenir in Malayalam that contains articles about the festival as well as other aspects of the state's heritage. "The special souvenir will be distributed among all the Ayyappa temples in the city as well as the Shri Krishna temple in Nigdi," said P Velayudhan, coordinator of Vakdevatha.
Meanwhile, various Bengali cultural associations in the city have also organized get-togethers to mark the first day of the Bengali calendar.
"Boishakh is the first month in the Bengali calendar. The first day of the month is believed to be auspicious for starting new endeavours. Five years ago, our association had set up a Kali temple and we always observe the foundation day of our temple on 'Poila Boishakh'. We will begin the day with a special puja in the morning," said Pritish Dutta, general secretary of the Purbo Poona Kalibari Samiti. Later in the evening, a get together has been organized for members. As on every other occasion, people will get a chance to savour traditional Bengali cuisine and a lot of sweets, he added.
The Kali Bari Samiti, Pune, has not organized a get-together, but it is expecting a footfall of about 4,000 people at the temple at Khadki on the day. "A lot of people visit the temple on 'Poila Boishakh'. We have prepared a special Bengali calendar that marks all the traditional festivals in the coming year and we will be distributing them to the devotees," said Anup Dutta, secretary of the Kali Bari Samiti, Pune.
Where the Tamil and the Assamese communities celebrated their new year, the Sikh community in the city celebrated Baisakhi with traditional fervour on Monday.
"Rongali Bihu is actually a seven-day festival and usually many people from Assam go back home at this time of the year. Those who stay back organize family get-togethers and serve traditional feast," said Rajib Borkataki, secretary of Asomi, an Assamese cultural association in the city.
Meanwhile, Christians in the city are observing the Holy Week, with Easter coming up on Sunday.