Karwa Chauth: Sargi, the Fast, the Puja Thali, and Moonrise in NCR

Karwa Chauth is one long day: up before dawn for sargi, a nirjala fast until the moon, then the puja and parana at night. Here is how the day is usually structured and what each part needs.

Sargi, before sunrise
Sargi is the pre-dawn meal, traditionally sent or served by the saas. It has to carry you through a foodless, waterless day, so it leans on things that release energy slowly:
- Dry fruits — almonds, cashews, walnuts
- Mathri, and a sweet — often halwa or a laddu
- Fresh fruit and a little coconut
- Some families add feni or seviyan
Finish sargi and water before the sargi-end time for your area, then the vrat begins.

Through the day
Mehndi goes on the evening before — book the artist early, they are stretched thin that week across every sector. During the day many women dress in their wedding colours and gather in the afternoon to hear the Karwa Chauth katha together, passing a thali in a circle (the thali-phera).

The puja thali
- Karwa — the small spouted pot, filled with water
- Chalni — the sieve you view the moon through, and then your husband
- A diya, matchbox, roli, akshat, kumkum, sindoor
- Water in a lota for arghya to the moon
- A dupatta or cloth, and a small gift or dakshina
- The Karwa Chauth katha book or aarti, and sweets for prasad

Moonrise
Moonrise in Delhi NCR on Karwa Chauth is usually somewhere around 8 to 8:30 pm, but it shifts by ten or fifteen minutes across Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, and it changes every year — check the moonrise time for your city on the day. Once the moon is up, you see it through the chalni, then look at your husband through it; he offers you the first sip of water and a bite of food, and the fast is broken.

Shopping for it
A Karwa Chauth kit has the karwa, chalni, katha book, roli–sindoor and diya together; add the sargi dry fruits and sweets to the same order and have it delivered a day ahead, so there is time for mehndi and prep.