Rani Muthu Calendar and 2006

One of the fixtures of a Hindu Tam household was a Rani Muthu Daily Sheet Calendar. The First Day of the New Year would see the replacement of the old calendar with the new one. The calendar had a cherubic, rosy-cheeked and under-age Lord Murugan with a benevolent lip-sticky smile. Right below the blessing hand and vel, each date had one sheet. Obviously, you tore off a sheet a day. The sheet not only had a date, but a galaxy of information such as auspicious hours, inauspicious hours, corresponding date in the Hindu calendar, vague festivals that no one had heard of. My mother had a habit of tearing off the sheet as a matter of “rituals before sleeping”, so she could smile into Murugan’s face with the corresponding date of the day shining bright.
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I remembered the calendar today as we struggled to breathe in the very crowded East Ham temple. They were selling similar calendars for 3 GBP each. You can still find the Rani Muthu Calendar in all of Tamizh Nadu and Indian cities with a sizable Tamizh population. A memory was triggered. Of flipping the sheets till you could see your birthday. Of circled dates. Of a new calendar taken fresh out its plastic wrapping. Things that stay the same year after year. A simple calendar that placed on any wall, could remind you of home. If only for a brief instant when you didn’t look at all the other walls. I found this solitary sheet online somewhere after googling for images. I wish I could get hold of that slightly kitschy Rani Muthu motif, but for now – a single sheet for the July 30 2005 will have to do.

** Update – Today morning my Dad sent me a mail, with the picture of the Calendar after reading this post. He made my day! Rani Muthu Calendar now graces my virtual home as well! 🙂