Ugadi

This last weekend was the New Year for some of us down South, so I went on home to spend some time with Mom and Dad and chill with Charlie. The day was marked with Bevu-bella, payasa, habbada oota at a family friend's, and tons of laying around at home enjoying the general ministrations reserved for errant children who only surface once a month or around the festivals.

I got to thinking how it was that there are some of us who actually get to celebrate the New Year 2 or 3 times a year...every year! We have ofcourse Good Old 1st of Jan, followed by Kannada Ugadi, and then Tamil New Year Day (one is Chandramaana Ugadi and the other is Souramaana Ugadi - darned if I remember
which is which). Loads of rituals, family-bonding, food and good cheer. (Which is how I would categorise just about any Indian festival, come to think of it!)

And then there are those of us who mark the passage of time, not in celebrations, but in hunger and penury, in homlessness, with tired eyes and fatigued hearts.

What difference does it make, whether the New year comes with the Solar or the Lunar calendar? What difference does it make to them that the New Year is a time for happiness and promise? While their lives have always held the bevu, with nary a taste of the bella, our Ugadis are markedly sweet.

Why does the New Year come only to some, and pass the others by? And more importantly, why do the rest of us let it be? While some of us greet the New Year with fervor and feasting, some of us remain in the shadows...forgotten.

Yuga-yugadi kaledaru, ugadi marali baruthide
hosa varushake hosa harushava, hosathu hosathu taruthide,
nammanashte marethide
(Sri.D R Bendre)