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.

Read in 2028

Dear Future Summer, 

If this is the year of 2028, you're probably 30 years old now...

Wow.

Well, just to remind you of how you used to be 15 years ago...lets just say, you were an average teenage girl. One with her own problems, wishes, desires and dreams to reach beyond. 

You loved writing whenever you felt like it, reading those cheesy love stories that make you believe every story can have a happy ending, watching American TV shows that seem to have more drama than you'd find in any realm of reality, playing the piano those times when the heart desired and while that all persisted, having that cloud of pressure to be perfect. 

Just like every other teenager out there with a vision or a dream, you had that cloud hovering over you at all times to do the best your capacity can handle, or even, push yourself harder to times you may stumble. It was hard; and it was getting harder juggling things with an aim of perfection as the years progressed. But it was all part of the game of life if you wanted to strive to your dream.

All you wanted, more than anything in this world, was to see your parents have that smile plastered on their face forever, when you've become successful. 

Getting into an university you and your dad dreamed of was your first goal, 15 years ago.

I don't know where you are right now, but if I went on the path that I thought I planned out 15 years ago, lets just say you've graduated from a notable university, got your degree, had some good work experience, starting to or started an idea of your own to stand out there as an individual. 

Remember your motto?

Be that somebody, not just an anybody or even worse, a nobody.

Well hopefully, you've followed it.

- You, 15 years ago. 

  April 2013

Dream Out Loud

Whenever you’re low.

Whenever you’re staggering below the bars.

Whenever you feel like you can’t make your way across.

Whenever you’re surrounded my narrow walls of pessimism. 

Whenever you feel like you can’t find that solid rock of truth.

Whenever you begin to lose hope in any track of your momentum.

Whenever you feel like letting go.

Whenever you think you can’t make a move beyond in the game of life.

Whenever you’re down.

It’s important to dream out loud.

Wedding Bells

You know the time is about to strike the moment the bride is sitting down, flushed with all the attention, when the final decision has been made: the couple is going to get married.

Right now, the atmosphere I’m living in is quite frenzy and crazy. My cousin is getting married tomorrow yet the number of things to be done is still in plenty.

That’s what you find in Indian weddings.

It’s never calm.

There are things happening day in, day out. No matter how many times you keep striking things out on your to-do list, they somehow always find their way back on the chart.

In our weddings, the wedding whirl begins quite before the wedding itself. Say a month? No scratch that.

The moment the wedding date is decided, that’s when you must be prepared to run around for literally 15 hours a day, running around doing your errands.

Weddings in India, in case you haven’t noticed already, are a big thing. Starting from the minute you print all the invitations to the wedding itself, things are crazy.

Think about it, there are precisely less than 30 hours left for my cousin’s wedding.

Yet I see around me, seven women in the room, driving themselves wild and packing different saris quickly to give people for tomorrows peli koothuru puja (the puja that takes place before the wedding at the brides house).

The bride’s dad, along with four other people, is at the wedding venue, finalizing tomorrows plan.

The bride sits there; doing what she is instructed to do. Be it, the pujas or not going out of the house until tomorrow.

The house is full of people running around, talking to the catering company, beauticians, mehendi designers and all sorts of people.

Kids running around and the maids making food for a number of guests.

And you know what? I love this atmosphere.

It’s absolutely amazing how so many people can come together and join two people making a promise to unite forever.

It’s not just the fact that they’re attending a marriage six hours away from their homes, but the fact that they actually care. They help in the making of the whole marriage itself.

If it was just left to the bride, the groom and their parents, trust me, no Indian wedding would be possible.

Another thing that fascinates me is the outlook of the wedding. Unlike Christian weddings, Indian weddings are amazingly colorful and so diverse. Personally, I love getting ready for these weddings. Dressing up, sorting out all your jewelery and wearing the right traditional heels is all part of my favorite routine. From chudis to gagra cholis to saris, the place bubbles with miscellany.

Well? Tomorrow is the wedding of one of my closest first cousins.

And I’m excited.

Especially to know for a fact that my cousin is going to be one happy lady married to her prince and about to live the rest of her life with an amazing guy.

Hope you guys stay together forever with each other vadhina (:

the couple :D

Love.

noun
1. a profoundly, tender, passionate affection for another person2. a feeling of warm personal attachment of deep affection

And that is how the dictionary defines love ; simple.

The way I deem love is intricate and complex - something that can't be defined, but felt.

Love is what drives the world today. It's that one emotion that has had everybody under its robe. It's what millions of people around the globe spend thinking about, worrying about and spreading about. It's one of the things that make that smile last, just reminiscing about a few moments or the journey itself.

Love is multifarious and composite, stationing at different forms. Each form is one of its kind - expressed differently, shown differently. But they all stand on the same base and the basic principle of give and take - the code of love.

The mother-daughter bond is probably one of the most strongest forms of love ever to be expressed. From the moment you enter the world till death and beyond, a mother will give love and continue to show it through thick and thin. Even the times when the daughter is completely incorrigible or out of hand, a mother will never leave the grip of her daughters hold. When the time of marriage strikes, she might let go of one hand, but the other one? It'll stay with her forever perpetually.

The six letter word that means so much and something that most people are very fortunate to have is family. Family are those people who understand your true individuality and accept you for who you are, with a few compromises or suggested changes made here and there, for your benefit. They're whom you've lived with, throughout the time you've metamorphed into a mature individual. There may be times you've done things for your family willingly or not, but either way, it's necessary to keep this love everlasting, for the true meaning and connotation of your life.

The different people we spend almost our entire span of life with is whom we relate with to friendship. Friendship is important and plays a major part in all of our lives. They're the people who influence us, good and bad. The people who stand with you from now to forever. The people whom you love and be loved by, standing as an extended family.

And then, of course, the love of the lovers. When time comes, every girl will have their Prince Charming. Somebody who cares for them and loves them deeper than anyone else. Someone who would kiss them goodnight and hug you through the hard times. I haven't been in love so I wouldn't know how it feels like. But from what I've heard, its a great feeling. Something that can't be shared, but felt within. When done right, it's possibly the most strongest feeling ever felt. It's what makes one's life complete.

Believe it or not, love is everywhere. You look down the street and pin around any stranger. And no matter what kind of a person he is, he is bound to love and be loved because love is just that. It's an inevitable feeling that shapes ones life.

It may be infatuation, it may be friendship; but it's still a feeling.

A very strong feeling.

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine and a person cannot live without love.

And this is completely true. 

Our New Beginning

Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.

The best way out is always through

Is it true that one can always find opportunity even in trouble? In an essay, support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from literature, science, technology, the arts, current events or your own experience/observation.

---

It was the winter of 1997, when my father had been faced with a dilemma. Being only two weeks old, I clearly do not remember anything of that stretch, but I have heard this inspirational story couple of times.

Coming from a typical Hindu family, we follow a number of practices and rituals for various occasions and festivals. One such occasion was the time of my birth. We, as Hindus, celebrate the 21^st day after the baby’s birth, as a great celebration and it is the time when the baby is given a name. It’s a time of joy, happiness and a feeling of pride within the family.

As of which, the arrangements for my grand day had started within the first week of my birth. Calling relatives, setting up the venue, arranging the catering for the delicious masala dosas, buying jewelry for my tiny self…you could say, there was as much drama as you’d find during a wedding.

So, everything was going all well until two days before the celebration. My father, who was then working for a local company, had received a call from Qualcomm, head quartered in San Diego. Back then, getting a job offer from America was considered to be very lucky and a rare opportunity. Qualcomm had told him that he had done exceedingly well in the written examination and asked him to Bangalore for the interview…. the day of my celebration.

There was less than 48 hours to go. The invitations were already all sent, the arrangements were almost set up, people had started to arrive and Qualcomm firmly said they wouldn’t reschedule. My family didn’t know what to do. And that’s when my dad laid out his preferences. Either we celebrate or he goes for the interview and if he bags it, we’d settle in a much happier life. After an hours thought, he decided.

He was going for the interview.

Then what about the celebration? After asking our grandfather, the head of our family, and a number of temple pandits, we decided to postpone the celebration to two days later. It was still quite havoc, but it all worked out.

And the epilogue you would ask? The celebration went amazing, with people all over the place blessing me for an amazing future ahead. And my dad got his job, and we were off to San Diego in the next three months, all to start a new beginning…

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.