Varalakshmi Vratam - 3

On the occasion of Varalakshmi Vratam, Ambi Anna sent a couple of emails and some photos, and the note:

On Varalakshmi Pooja day I am reminded of Mannimma (my mother Sarada) performing the pooja diligently every year

For the photo below, he says:

Attached is a copy of a Varalakshmi picture from an ancestral Tanjore painting

Varalakshmi - Tanjavur painting

and for the ones below:

Photo taken during Geetha Manni's inaugural Varalakshmi Vratam pooja with Mannimma, at Besant Nagar. Ladies in the photo are Mannimma, Jayalakshmi Chithi, Malini and Geetha

(LtoR) Geetha Manni, Manimma (partially hidden),
Jayalashmi Chithi (Amma, also partially hidden) and Malini Manni

Varalakshmi Ambal, 25, Beach Road, Besant Nagar

I also apologize for not updating the blog all of this year. There have been several occasions (some good, some sad) where I thought about doing so, but was unable to. Some of these occasions include: Pushpa's valaikaappu/seemantham in Irvine (Jan), followed in April by the birth of Leena (Pushpa and Ben's daughter) and almost at the same time, the sad news of Sekar and Raju's untimely deaths.

A video of the family (Raju is not in this video, but the one I have of them is much bigger and cannot be uploaded) from our 2009 Jeeyapuram trip is attached below:

Also attached below is a video of the Varalakshmi Vratam puja that same year (2009) in Gandhi Nagar (done by Amma, Kalyani, Vidya [and Kamakshi]), with Veda Sir conducting the puja. Also in the video are Siddharth and Appa.

I conclude with Ambi Anna's message in his email:

May Goddess Varalakshmi bless us all.