Vijaya Dashmi Greetings...

The jagged and the symmetrical...

The memories of Puja...

Pancha-amritham, sharkara payasam, fruits, milk,  and otta- appams.
The uneven edges of the coconut, an offering to Ganesha, reminding of the care that was taken to pluck out the fiber on the shell, select the perfect one, break it into two symmetrical halves with smooth edges.

The puja arranged with the order set by someone long gone.. old tin-framed  Ravi Varma calender prints in heirarchical order,  muted, faded old clay idols, the shine of newness on the plaster-of paris idols, rudraksha beads, glass bead-necklaces, tulsi-bead necklaces,  old bronze, the green of the banana leaves, spiky red and orange tecchi flowers-Ixora Indica, sugarcane sticks: peeled and cut evenly,  nei-ghee, butter, milk, jaggery, crystal sugar, ripe plantains, puffed rice-malar, panchamritham...

Mingling with the unique fragrance of the old and the new:  books, old palm leaf manuscripts, old writing implements...the fragrance of camphor, incense, sambrani, flowers and tulsi, old wood and oil and the scent of  old granaries and the attic upstairs.