Ugadhi, The Telugu New Year

*This was written by me on the day of Ugadhi, a few days ago on April 11th.

Andhariki Ugadhi Shubhakankshalu.

Today is Ugadhi, the start of the Telugu New Year. Coming from a Telugu family, we celebrate this festival with great pride. Unlike other Indian festivals which do more with poojas and lengthy rituals, most families celebrate this festival in a very simple way. Wearing new traditional clothes to celebrate the day, praying god for a prosperous and prospective year and eating some of the exclusive annual ugadhi pachadi.

Now, this ugadhi pachadi is the reason Ugadhi is one of my favorite festivals. Not only because of its delicious, exotic taste but because it contains a deep symbolism behind its existence. 

So this dish is made of 6 ingredients, each symbolizing something…something that makes up life.

Ripe banana pieces, for its sweetness, signify happiness and glory.

Neem buds, for its bitterness, symbolize the grief and sadness one faces in life.

Green chili, just like we all know for having its spicy taste, signifies anger and wrath one feels at some point of time.

Salt, because of its apparent saltiness, signifies fear.

Tamarind juice symbolizes disgust and shame, considering its sour

Mango, which contains a whirling taste, signifies surprise.

So that’s the base of this ugadhi pacchadi and what it’s actually supposed to contain. But of course we tend to modify this original recipe, because who exactly in their right minds would eat green chili on purpose?

But that’s how our forefathers and ancestors meant it to stand by, and honestly, that very concept of life symbolized all in one dish is astonishing.

Ugadhi, a day dedicated to thanking god for where we are, asking him for his blessings and hoping he would grace us for the next year, is a day of realizing, offering and celebrating.

And of course, it gives you a chance to make a whole new list of new years resolutions.

Sandy Hook Tragedy

The following essay had been written by me around the last week of December 2012, when the Sandy Hook tragedy had took place.

So maybe, the foretold apocalypse that predicted the end of life hadn’t transpired this year; but from the shattering and devastating incidents that have been taking place around the world, it is evidently discernible that the ideals of humanity and morality largely do not subsist anymore.

While praying deep condolences to the beautiful souls of all those who had been shot in the Sandy Hook incident, the entire episode disturbs me and leaves me thinking to multiple questions– Why them? What did the poor children ever do to deserve such a demoralizing end? Why did fate pick those twenty pure souls who hadn’t even seen a bare tenth of what life is?

Some say its written, some say it’s the consequence of the sins you’ve made your previous life, others say its karma.

Karma is like a boomerang that defines your destiny. You do good, and you get equivalently the bad you deserve.

I used to be a believer of karma until I started to wonder.

How did karma decide to take the lives of these children? Why would it lead to these innocent souls to death? Is Karma the real key to the question?

The answer to that? I really don’t know. It’s like a missing piece to a puzzle. It disturbs me to think about the children who had passed away or the teachers who had died protecting their children. The gang rape in Delhi and the slashing of the children in the Shenpeng Village…two more occurrences have taken place the same week of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

The world is such a cruel place. While we think we’re developing into a stronger realm, speaking in terms of mortality, the times we’re living in today have never been worse. Humanity has been fading. Safety is a word desired by people. Society has been trashed. Civilization has been destructed.

Is this really what we’ve turned our world into?

A world where lives are taken as though it’s a simple task?

A world where words like charity and altruism have been replaced with words like vindictive and vicious?

A world where you cannot walk without the fear or thought of a catastrophe?

A world where anybody can do whatever they want and face far less consequences than what they deserve?

If this is really what we made the world we’re living in into, honestly, I’d rather face an apocalypse.