An mahabharata fanfic where there is time travel but.. With an unexpected twist.
Meet Kartikeya and Kriti. Two orphans who live with their grandmother, decent students living a carefree life and ardent devotees of Lord Shiva with an immense liking f...
A/N: Nothing much here, just trying to drown in nostalgia. I would've posted it beforehand but... been busy with the Navratri prep at home and my assignments so... yeah. On we go!
As to why I am starting it like this... Some of you wanted a small look into the duo's past so I decided to do it like this. While it won't cover all of the customs, hope it will satisfy you guys :)
Btw, I am using italics for tamil here. Just a heads up. And the end note may be quite long along with pics.
The earliest memory of a Navratri for Kartik was the time when his cous- no sister was just two years old. His mother was moving around trunks and emptied a few drawers and asked him to fill up a few boxes with books before arranging them in such a way that they looked like mini steps.
He'd wanted to run and play on it but then his mother had this amused, yet scolding look as she sat him down and tried to explain things that he couldn't register at that time and made perfect sense now.
"Karti, idhu golu padi. Idhumela aduthadu umachi, konjom bomma, unnoda toys kooda veppom. Aana idha nee thoda koodathu. Illati edhavadhu thappa nadakkum" she'd said and he stared at her, wide eyed, taking in each and every word seriously. (This is the steps of the golu. On top of this we will keep gods, some dolls and even some of your toys. But you should not touch anything. Or else bad things can happen)
She'd then covered the whole set up of random items with a veshti (dhoti) and it looked as if it were just made with blocks and not a mix of boxes, trunks and planks of various sizes that were stacked up to form it. And then came the dolls. And the empty stairs were now filled with dolls of various sizes and shapes, all slowing forming something akin to what he'd call an organised mess, and an amazing overall picture.
It was amusing as to how his mother and aunt were trying to keep Kritika away from the whole array of toys on display. And being the curious baby she was, they were really having a tough time as people came in crowds to look at their display and at times his mother would go out and return with a bagful of betel leaves and coins and sometimes, even gifts and most importantly, sundal.
(Sundal is chickpeas/ peanuts/ peas/ some kinds of dhal that are usually boiled and sometimes cooked with some coconut and at times, some chilli. Or refer the pic below)
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And it was also the time his mother usually made rava laddoos and distributed it around to the people who came to visit them. And if he'd sneaked a few out for himself... his mother never commented on it.
As they grew up Kartik noticed how any time Kritika came over during Navaratri, she'd be asked to accompany either one of the ladies to their neighbours' place. There was a time when he'd asked to accompany them but his mother had just smiled and said that it was a woman's thing, which totally didn't sit well with him. He'd noticed how his father would be the one to hand out vethali-paaku to everyone who came to see the golu.
