Special Mom’s blog

Thiruvaiyaru Thyagaraja Aradhana honors The Great Saint Thyagaraja, a composer of many classical pieces on Sri Rama. On his day of attaining Samadhi, Carnatic (Classical South Indian) Musicians gather together to sing his 5 gems, Pancharatna Kritis. Every year in Cleveland, USA, the same tradition is followed. But it is nearly a weeklong festival with many programs. Students learning Classical Carnatic Music are given the stage to showcase their talent as a group and for two years, my younger one participated in the choir right after the 5 gems were sung.

I loved the experience at Cleveland, and looking back, it gave my younger one not only an exposure to Classical Carnatic Music but to my Indian culture as well. He could not continue music, but I do know I have a laid a strong foundation for him.

The festival is coming up next week and if there are any music fans out there and in Cleveland you can check up on there schedule here. https://www.aradhana.org/schedule.html

By the way we are not a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, but we did go to our first NBA game between them and Boston Celtics. This post took long to publish since I cannot find pictures of us at the game.

Columbus, another city in Ohio hosted a race and yes our family was there to walk it. More than seven years ago on my son’s birthday we decided to walk for a cause and we wanted to make that a routine. The pandemic did put a dent but we are back doing races.

From Columbus and Cleveland I have to move to Chennai. Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India is my home town. One of the major metros I grew up. I love every aspect of Chennai, even when people talk about it’s humidity with its second longest beach. I get goosebumps and a teary eye as I write this, since it has been nearly a decade since I went back home for a visit.

December in Chennai is beautiful. The month of Maarghazhi, people decorate the front of their houses with Rangolis and the flower that comes out in purple called December Poo one of my favorite and one that I have on my hair in the picture is all that I love. More than a decade ago, I was their along with my brother’s family and I had so much fun doing the rangoli with my sister in law. Doing these rangolis is not an easy task, and I think we made some beautiful ones that season together. We even participated in a Kolam (Rangoli) Competition.

During my visit I also made my special one perform a small piece on his keyboard at my favorite Sringeri Sarada Temple, my deity I grew up with. But my boy has come a long way and his music teacher has promised more for him when he goes back there hopefully this winter.

So for A to Z Challenge today

C is for Cleveland, Columbus and Chennai.

The theme: The travel I have done.