Happy Ugadi!

Last week, when I wrote my Spring Post, Sailaja aunty left a comment saying “Common we too have Spring!, its not quite the same though!” …..Ahh well , How could I miss it?? Ofcourse we have SPring and as aunty said, its not the same way!!

Today is the start of Chaitra Maasam , new year according to Telugu Calender. And Chaitram marks the advent of Spring in deccan India…..a season, where the cuckoos starts singing, where the forests and trees grow green ….and most importantly, the season of Mangoes start!! Yum Yum….you guys must already be enjoying…gosh, we dont get good mangoes here! [only tinned and i dont like them]

Ugadi [yug+adi in sanskrit] is a celebration of New Years eve on Deccan area of India.

Andhra people call it Ugadi, Kannadigas call Yugaadi/Ugadi and its also celebrated in Maharashtra as Gudi Padwa!

To me, its Telugu New Year! Let me give you a brief idea of what its about and how we celebrate it!

Mostly, the family gets together, we used to meet up in our granny’s place in the evening…all of our cousins with pattu pavada and poola jada… But the day starts with pooja , and we make a spcial prasad for today….its called “Ugadi pachadi”

Its main ingridients are :

• Neem Buds/Flowers for bitterness – depicting the bad experiences we might face in life – sadness
• Raw Mango for tang – for the share of happiness we get 🙂
• Tamarind Juice for sourness – for anguish and anger we might feel 
• Green Chilli/Pepper for heat – for the ambiguity or fear we may feel
• Jaggery for sweetness – for those sweet moments of surprise in store for us…
• Pinch of Salt for saltiness – for the flavor of year…

All in all, we call them as “Shadruchulu”   the six tastes/flavors of Life….I think, the philosophy behind it is, we cant expect to have a fully happy life or fully sad one…..Life is a mixture of all these emotions! 

Just like, all the flavors together make a delicious recipe, Our Life also with all the emotions tastes delicious! So it is to remind ourselves of what we might get in new year and to encourage us to accept all of them as they come and still enjoying! Isnt it a wonderful way to start a year???

Later, through the day, we listen to PANCHANGA SRAVANAM – from a priest which tells us what to expect in the year, how could it be etc based on positions of planets. Whether one believes in them or not, I find them fun to read! As long as you know, YOU are the sole person responsible for yourself, believing these wont hurt…..The moment, we tend to depend on someone else’s prediction that on ourselves, failures are bound to happen…what say?Image Source : Google Images.

I remember, when we were kids, nannamma [fathers mom] used to tell us lotsa stories, which not only  were fun but also imparted knowledge and manners into us! If not for our grannys , we children would be unaware of all those epics which we thought as bed-time stories!!

So Guys and Girls, please feel free to say how it is in Gudi Padwa and Yugadi. 🙂

And Virodhi Nama Samvatsara Subhakankshalu!