Come Sankranthi, Bangalore brims with festivity. Amidst all the humdrum of globalisation, ‘ITisation’ and ‘BTisation’, it is heartening to see the green mango leaves-adorned thresholds; ‘rangoli’ decorated doorsteps, a few kites dotting the skyline, malls and shops aptly decorated with sugarcanes and plantains.

Makara Sankranthi is a harvest festival when the sun transcends from the house of Sagittarius to Capricorn during the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere - ‘Uttarayana’. Sankranthi means to change direction. It also means convergence.

While the traditional Indian calendar is basically based on lunar positions, Sankranthi is a solar event, so while dates of all festivals keep changing, the English calendar date of Makar Sankranthi is always either January 14 or 15. After this, the day starts becoming longer and warmer, and the chill of winter in the air starts declining.

Labour of joy

Ellu, sugarcandies and sugarcane are synonymous with Sankranthi. Making sugarcandies and ellu, a mixture of fried sesame, peanuts and gram, with jaggery and copra, carefully selected and painstakingly cut into small cubes - which was a labour of joy for our ancestors - in the present day is considered to be a time consuming chore. But, lack of time in this fast-paced age is no deterrent for those who really want to celebrate and keep up this age-old tradition dating back to the Aryans, as these goodies in attractive colours and containers are easily available in shops.

Significance of sugarcane

What is Sankranthi without sugarcane? Stacks of them piled up in the market herald the arrival of the festival. Little does the Bangalore’s Gen-X, accustomed to drinking the machine squeezed juice, knows about the fun of  shredding the cane with teeth and munching the juice off it.

Elders nostalgically recollect how their mouths felt raw and even bled eating those countless canes, yet that wouldn’t stop them from munching on more. Our chocolate and coke mellowed teeth rattles in fear at the very thought!

In Bangalore, the festival is marked by visiting one's friends and relatives to exchange sugarcane pieces, ellu and greetings, with the words:  Ellu bella thindu, Olle Maathu Aadu (eat sesame seeds and jaggery, and speak only good), with one's neighbours, friends and relatives. Beautifully dressed children are made to wear sugarcandy garlands, a mixture of ‘ellu’ red-berries and coins are showered upon them and ‘aarati’ is taken to ward off the evil-eye.

It is indeed a Sun-kranti as the sun’s first rays on this day fall on the idol of lord Gavi Gangadhareshwara, in the cave temple of Gavipuram. Beginning with the feet of the lord, the rays slowly move up to the crown, where it lingers for about three to four seconds. This whole phenomenon which occurs once a year on the day of Makara Sankranti lasts for about ten to thirteen minutes. Thousands of devotees throng to witness this.