Half way through the monsoon season we would get ready to welcome Sridevi, the Goddess of plenty and prosperity to our midst. On the last day of the month of Mdthunam on the lunar calendar (mid-July) houses get a thorough cleaning.-floors are scrubbed and mopped, cobwebs are cleaned and furniture dusted. In days past, towards dusk of that day one of our maidservants, with a pail of trash in hand, walked out of the front door of our home. We children accompanied her shouting chetta purathu poo, Sridevi akathuvaa- let all the dirt and evil go out the door and let cleanliness and goodness come inside. My mother walked behind her sprinkling handfuls of water on the floor, performing a symbolic purification ritual.

From the next day onwards, a special place was set up in our prayer room to honor the Goddess. My mother decorated a wooden plank symbolizing the goddess with sandalwood paste, bright red kumkumam powder, and garlands of seasonal yellow mukkutti flowers and dark green karuka grass. Among the lighted bronze oil lamps and platters of fruits and flowers rested a silver bowl filled with nivedyam, popped rice mixed with fresh coconut and brown sugar, to propitiate the goddess. Throughout the month of Karkitakam at sun down Hindu homes reverberate with readings from the epic Ramayanam.

Dark days of monsoon are also a time for ancestral remembrance. On the day of new moon, Karkitaka vaavu, special prayers are offered in memory of demised ancestors. In the belief systems of the east fasting or at least depriving the body certain luxury food, is considered a means of achieving a higher state consciousness. In times past a symbolic observation of this belief was practiced on every new moon, especially new moons during the monsoon season, by consuming only kanji (rice soup) instead of cooked rice.

Everyday vegetarian meals also would be different during this season. Preparing an appetizing meal becomes a challenge. The abundant summer vegetable crop is long gone and nothing grows in the flooded soil Use of frozen or canned vegetables is almost unheard of in our villages. All of the drying and preserving of vegetables done during the summer months come in handy. Several root vegetables that have longer shelf lives; edible leaves and various kinds of dried beans becomes the mainstay of our vegetarian kitchens during this season. Spicy hot shallot soup, yams and Indian garbanzo beans cooked in coconut and cumin sauce and creamy hot semolina pudding are some of the monsoon season favorites in our village.

By mid August the fury of rain subsides, and bright sunshine warms the earth. The farmland is carpeted with rich green rice stacks that sway in the breeze. Once again it is time to bid farewell to the rainy season and to welcome the golden harvest season.