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Vashi2Panvel.Com: Navi Mumbai: August 9: The regular dissonance and the ‘fishy’ business were missing in the Ladies’ compartment of the local train today. So, where have all the fish sellers gone? Nothing much to worry! They are all busy praying to their god, the Sea. Narali Poornima is the most awaited festival amongst the Koli community. On this occasion, the Swadhya Parivaar, a committee of Kolis organised a mass pooja festival from 4:30 pm at Diwale Village in Belapur.

The members of the community were all well dressed with golden ornaments and 9-yard sarees wrapped in their own traditional manner. The actual proceedings began around 21 days back with the beginning of the “Shravan” season. “The season is considered very auspicious because the Sea god is active in this season. So, we start our prayers on that particular day,” says Prabhakar Koli, one of the members of the organizing committee. “We take a kalash half filled with sea-water and half with the normal potable water and put a coconut as the lid. This is worshipped everyday by the members of a family,” he explains. “This kalash along with the coconut is then offered to the sea on the poornima i.e. today,” he adds.

Ask them why is narali Poornima celebrated and the reply, “Our great grandfather, Pujniya Pandurang Shastri Ahawale had guided us to do certain rituals and routine prayer of the coconut before offering it to the sea. So on his instructions we began this kind of pooja of the sea, though earlier we used to just offer coconut to the sea without any formal prayers,” informs Gangesh Koli, one of the members of the community. “There are times when the sea is very violent and so to calm it down we do this prayer,” he adds.

“200 families from Diwale will offer their prayers to the sea today. This is one festival which brings us all together,” says Jyotsana Dongrikar, a resident of Diwale village. According to the members of the community, the prayers bring them peace, prosperity and evade them of their troubles. They feel that it calms down the sea and also increase their fish harvest.

Smriti Mishra