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Who says life has become a mad rush with hardly time for anything other than running a family and managing a profession? There is a family in the Mandaveli area of Chennai that finds time to celebrate even Krishna Jayanthi on a mega scale.
S Amarnath is a lecturer in a government college (it was a good thing that the government colleges were on strike this Krishna Jayanthi), his brother Surendar is a student/teacher of art and also freelances for ad companies, his sister Aparna is busy with a career in the financial sector. Yet, the three of them celebrate Krishna Jayanthi on a scale most families don't celebrate even
Navarathri.
Like in a kolu, three steps (rather like layers) have been formed in the pooja corner of the house. The lowest layer contains Krishna in his avatar pose: as a baby on a cute oonjal (an improvised swing) surrounded by pots to signify his favourite food - butter.
 The middle layer represents Brindavanam. So there are figurines of Meera, Radha and Krishna, Udipi Krishna, Puri Jagannatha and his brother and sister, Krishna playing on the flute leaning nonchalantly on a cow, a sandalwood Krishna, his Chanku and Chakra and a tulsi madam.
The top layer has a wonderful canopy of the branch of the punnai tree (that used to grow freely in all parts of Chennai, but which now costs up to Rs 100 a branch in the bazaar!). Colourful kunjalams hanging from the branch were supposed to depict the 'vastaparana' scene!
There was a lovely, vintage idol of Krishna playing the flute (donated by Amarnath's university professor, C E Ramachandran) standing under the branch. He was adorned with beautiful jewels and was definitely the crowning glory.
This layer also had a wooden idol of Krishna and two more idols from Allahabad and Delhi.
The
 garlands and thoranams and other artistic hangings enriched the whole piece that it transported one to another dimension in time. It takes the family close to a week to set up the whole arrangement.
The three siblings sang a couple of songs after an elaborate pooja that concluded with the usual
prasadams.
And then the guests started pouring in.
Take a look at the photo gallery and you will understand why.
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