I am Manasa from Bangalore. Had spent my childhood days in namma mysuru ( the most popular place which is rich in heritage and culture and also where Dasara/ navaratri is celebrated on traditional way). I feel proud that stayed in mysuru and witnessed jamboo Savari on Vijayadashami day.
Navaratri is most important and is very close to my heart. My mom used to collect all the dolls and used to display. This tradition was followed by her from past 29 years! Unfortunately , now she's not there with us but the tradition, Pooja vidhaan and the happiness she shared in keeping golu has inspired me a lot. Now! I've taken this culture and tradition to move forward from my side. I still have my mom's doll which is the main asset for me. I love to display each and every doll in a different way.
For us navaratri means ignoring all negative thoughts, accepting all inspirations and vanish all darkness. We've learned to convert all the problems to our strength. We do prominantly worship Saraswati and ask maata to give us all strength, good will, knowledge and abundance of lending mind to support who are on need. No matter the differences in customs, the core value of the festival is the victory of good over evil. We celebrate it with act of kindness. Actually of kindness? How? Yes! I do teach my 3.5year old toddler about the kind heart by showing the golu displayed, narrating Rama's truthful ways, narasimha story, krishna leela and maa Durga's strength. I also teach her the valuyof friendship by showing the krishna - sudhama, Rama - Hanuman golu dolls.
We intentionally invite lots of people who have kids to share the significance of helping needy ones. By doing this People express gratitude for the health and wealth they received, by sharing it with those who are not as privileged - be it in the form of food, money, clothes, stationery or other articles. It is indeed the best way to multiply the goodness and divinity of Navratri.
We insist out toddler to be in our kitchen while preparing food (which we distribute who comes home on navaratri days), play Vishnu sahasranama and Lalitha sahasra Nama which preparing food so that there must not be any bad thoughts while preparing it. Just pure mind and soul!
Overall, the golu in my home is nothing but the treasure or asset shared by my mother. My mom's golu is a gallery of handcrafted dolls representing major deities, scenes from everyday life, doll sets representing mythological events and so on. These dolls get handed down from generation to generation. And I hope my daughter shows this interest in upcoming days and continue this tradition.
And many many thanks to The Golu studio for encouraging people to buy deities golu and traditional village scenes golu to preserve our culture. Hats off to the people who work in this golu studio. And last It's out culture and tradition that'll will long last and will be a traditional lesson for our future generations. All the golu sets in golu studio expresses the fine story of bramhotsava, devi, traditional games, bond between siya Rama lakshmana with Rama doota Hanuman, krishna leela, mayabazar. Definitely a one stop solution to buy unique and yet story telling golu bommai.
