“Pottu vaitha oru vatta nila” rightly plays in the background as I put thoughts to pen on this one. The case of a forgotten pottu, kumkumam on the forehead and an address. You’ve known me for over 2 decades now and you still don’t have my address? Bang came a very valid question. Oops! That’s when you realise how enslaved you are, to the cell phone. The consolation that it’s all there online…and poof! You just don’t know where exactly!
Because you think it’s safely residing in the cloud, you’re tempted to not go back and check if it’s still there, was it deleted, or if anything has changed! You just tend to take it for granted and when the opportune moment arrives, you don’t get to the cloud, you get to the person instead and ask for the info first hand, as though you were getting introduced to them for the first time!
Now this may be a teeny-weeny act of remembering things, but it would go a long darn way in determining the value and respect you have for your people, at least your “most immediate” near and dear ones.
Then comes the sticker pottu, which keeps slipping away from the forehead, just when you are supposed to have it intact. An excellent excuse for not wearing it at all, you know :) ! It starts with not replacing it when it slips off, to not wearing it while at home to not wearing it at all, all because it’s gonna fall off anyway! And not to forget, the evolution of pottu with every fashion you slip into. No pottu with a pair of jeans and tee, no pottu with casual wear… How easy to have ifs and buts for the wonderful pottu. But wait, they always embellish corners of a bathroom mirror, also the center of the mirror too. Somehow, the adhesive seems to work well when it’s stuck on the mirror.
And now for the kumkumam. There’s a romantic and prosperous charm to the kumkumam, for it adds glow to your face, as though you were wearing the miner’s helmet with an attached light. Such is the positive radiation of this beautiful kumkumam, shining all the way from the forehead, to your eyes, nose, and cheeks. This speaks volumes - of romance, of happiness, of grace, of togetherness with your husband and of culture too. When worn, your face looks adorably adorned as though with a piece of jewellery. Excuses for not wearing it are galore… with fashion being directly linked to it. But, Excuse Me, it’s not a fashion statement, first of all!
So the address, if it had to be remembered in the time of need, would be hand-written in a pocket notebook and carried along, just like your cell phone. The pottu, even if it slips away, could find its way into a sticker pad and act as a backup, just in case. And hey, it can be slipped into your purse very easily. As for the kumkumam, there’s a paste available, which holds the kumkumam all day long. You’d first wear the paste and the kumkumam, right on top of it, so its remnants don’t fall off on your chest, through the surface of the nose! It leaves a mark though, marks its presence, everywhere… in the center of the pillow cover, with you rolling over in oblivion during sleep, on the padding, which is on the inside of your helmet, each time it is taken off and worn back, on the inside of your dress, each time you pass it through your head. These go to show marks of existence, of a significant other, in every walk of life.
That the pottu and the kumkumam have a spiritual significance, is a different discussion altogether. But think about it, it’s all about the effort you put in to retain things. It’s just that! If you wanted, you could.
