Hello and Vanakkam to you ! This is my very first post here and instead of an introduction about myself and what this space will be for, I thought it more timely to share about ‘Pongal’ since it it is the time of the year. During my childhood, I’ve witnessed the annual Pongal celebrations in my parents’ home and never questioned what Pongal was and why we celebrate it. On the morning of Pongal, which always falls on January 14th, my mother would boil some milk in a pot until some of the it boiled over and then she proceeded to add some washed rice and lentils to the pot. It’s also customary to shout, “ Pongalo! Pongal!” as the milk is boiling over the edges of the pot to usher in a year of prosperity and all things good as the word pongal refers to both the rice dish and the action of something being so abundant and in excess that it is ‘boiling over’. Once the rice-lentil melange is cooked until mushy, she’d add jaggery syrup and then some cashews and raisins toasted in ghee. Once the Sakkarai (Sweet) Pongal dish is done cooking, we have it for breakfast together with some other sides like vadai and sugarcane.