The Karwa Chauth Way
Last week, Hindu Indian women around the world, celebrated the traditional Karwa Chauth day. A day when women especially married Indian women, observe a whole day fast for her husband, till the moon arrives.
The fast is often a water-less fast wherein the women who are keeping this fast go without drinking water for the whole day until she worships the moon that evening or night [considering the moon takes its own time to rise this evening. or is it what we feel so?]
The married women, stores water in a Karwa [a clay pot or a metal pot], which she uses during the "Karwa Chauth Katha" ritual [officially below the sunset]. And she uses the same pot to offer some water to the moon god and opens her fast after drinking water from the same pot.
Hence, the Karwa or the Pot is quite an integral part of this pooja.
This post is essentially about the Karwa [the earthenware pot] used for the pooja. Since the Karwa is such an important part of this day, a lot of women [including your struly] give quite an emphasis on selecting a nice one [read well-designed].
A lot of lovely designs are available in the market. You can source these pots from the local potter or the shops selling pooja items. Last year, I bought a well-designed Karwa from the local market in Andheri West, Mumbai, viz- Apna Bazaar. It was quite a hub to source different worship items including other household stuff. However, this year we shifted to Ahmedabad and notwithstanding my inability to find an "Apna Bazaar" equivalent market in Ahmedabad, I settled for wild hunting in the auto-rickshaw.
I got the pot from a sweet co-resident in my society who sourced it on her way to her early morning badminton practice. It was a simple, plain one though, giving way and inspiration to my DIY project.
The DIY Project
So I wanted to pep up my Karwa. I also contemplated buying another one with a design. I found one on my way to the salon. Although I decided to use the one I had at home. The challenge was to design it. But how? Many thoughts wandered my head- from pasting bright golden "Gota Patti" to "Glittering clothes" to paints. I realize I could not recall any decorative item at home and needed to shop. Does this happen with you? I am sure to find all these items the very next day at my home but never mind, a good excuse to explore the city with my manicured nails, expensive facial and just shampooed/blow dried salon hair!
Woohooo, a little instruction from WhatsApp ladies group, I headed to satellite area to find the very famous "Gloria restaurant" a landmark for many shops guided by my Skyz Girls.
It is on the same road as the tailor I went to get my festival blouse stitched and like I missed the navigation while searching for tailor's address, I missed for this one and went far ahead than the destination. Ah! My "Instagram ready" hair, what art thou?
Finally, I landed in some shop wherein after quite a showcase surfing, I dropped the idea of using bling and jumped to the stationary shop next door, ahem after 2-3 doors. I did buy a fevicol and some mirror pieces from this boy but boy oh boy, the girl at stationery shop was really helpful in making me select colors, glitter, and stickers for my DIY project.
DIY Karwa / Pot design
After lot of contemplation and rejecting the idea of using glasses, I settled to make a simple, basic Karwa with red color and some sticker. However, when you are into something or start the design process, a lot of time the thoughts changes and you end up making something other than what you originally planned.
The same happened to me too. To know more and how I made my first DIY Pot, do watch my video [which I painstakingly edited for you all].
Watch this video on YouTube.
I hope you liked my video. If yes, please do subscribe and share.
In case, if you liked my design, let me know. In case, if you have some ideas to add, do let me know too. I would also love to hear your video requests. Though I have some videos lined up, and I would come with them soon.
In case, if you have any DIY request, I would love to know them. And if my saga of exploring the city in broad sunlight with freshly manicured hands and salon treatment makes you curious to know more, do check out this video about the same.
Ah! I know I could have done a vlog for Karwa Chauth but you see, I am a one-person blogging army with a very erratic staff. So if I get a little delayed in answering your queries, do not lose heart. Ping me here or DM on Instagram.
PS: I am quite active on my Instagram stories you see :)
The Post DIY feeling
So I finally did a DIY decor which made me feel really so good about myself. It is not that I have never done a DIY. In fact, I have done several DIYs especially wedding decors. However, pot painting was quite pervasive on my mind. It encouraged me to paint the "Diya" for the Diwali. Well, Diwali 2019 is quite a past now. But my DIY spirit is still going good.
Aha, I must tell you that how I forgot to soak that paintbrush in a bowl of water, and how guilty I feel to have it stuck with the paint. So as soon as you finish your DIYs [or this one in particular] do not forget to soak that brush immediately. I have also spoken about a few other tips [in the video] like using a plastic sheet to protect the floor which may come handy.
Wonder what to do with the Karwa once pooja is done? Well, simply hand it over to your mother-in-law so that she too could admire your efforts and feel good about it. Maybe you and she can try painting a few stuff.
Meet you soon with a new blog, a new video and more content on my Social media platforms [Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and now tikTok]
Stay Haute, Stay Creative
Ekta
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