Happy Mahashivrathri !

It’s Shivarathri celebrations in my native place. Ashwathi festival begins during Shivarathri.
Valiya means big.
Kulam means river.
Kara means shore.

And at that sacred shore of Valiyakulangara resides Goddess Maha Kali, worshipped there as Valiyakulangara Devi — watching generations rise, fall, pray, and return.

Valiyakulangara is located at Nangyarkulangara, the place which became very famous due to the Bollywood Movie - Param Sundari

More about Valiyakulangara Devi Temple on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valiyakulangara_Devi_Temple

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alappuzha

From the past 4 years during Shivarathri, something deeply personal unfolds.  The Valiyakulangara Devi temple uses my property for anna danam — the sacred offering of food. Across the village, food is served in eight to ten places, And one of those places is mine.

And every time I think about it, I feel a strange mix of humility, gratitude, and reflection.

Because this property carries a story.

In 2016, life was heavy. My brother was struggling through rehabilitation from drug addiction.
I took a top-up home loan to repay my brother's debts. It was not a logical decision. It was not financially wise. It was emotional. It was family. It was helpless love.

That same year, my mother transferred her property in Alappuzha into my name. She was worried about my future. She feared I might remain unmarried. In her own way, she was trying to secure me against the uncertainties of life.

At that time, the loan amount was more than double the value of the property. It felt suffocating. Heavy. Almost unfair.

But today, as i see people eating food sitting there in my place ; I feel that -

Its real worth was never about money.
God was writing something else.
What once felt like burden has now become offering.
What once felt like pressure has now become purpose.

During Shivarathri, as lamps are lit and people gather to eat on that very land, I  quietly watch. Strangers sit together. Food is served without judgement. Gratitude flows freely.

And I understand something that only time can teach:
Our life is not random.
Our journey is not accidental.
God decides the turns, even when we resist them.

In 2016, I saw debt.
Today, I see destiny.

Photos from this week 2026 shared by my cousin brother.
Every year, the idol of Goddess Maha Kali is taken out in a sacred procession. She travels through the village, arriving at each place where anna danam is offered, blessing the gathering before returning to her temple abode.
The space is also used to build temple chariots.

Maybe that is what Shivaratri whispers to me each year — that destruction, struggle, and surrender are part of transformation. That what we carry as weight today may become someone else’s blessing tomorrow.

Here, Maha Kali is revered as a water goddess. The dance performed in her honour reflects the movement of the tides — rising and falling like waves. The shaking in the dance is symbolic of the restless energy of water, its force, its surrender, its return.

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