Wish you a Happy Sankranthi and what exactly do I wish

This blog post got triggered when my friend Satya sent our Middle Earth group a Happy Pongal e-mail.

I must thank him for the wishes and at the same time for triggering some thoughts in me. I am missing the Bhogi celebrations but I guess I can participate in the Lohri celebrations. But I would like to say something about this "wishing" business. While there is nothing wrong and in fact good that we use this opportunity to say hi (actually saying that I am alive and I remember you all), I have never experienced this wishing business till I moved to Hyderabad, a urban city. Similar to what famous poet Sri Sri says in the "Saapatu etu ledu paataina paadu brother" song of Aakali Raajyam movie, there is no difference between Sankranti or Dasara or Christmas in the Urban City, for the common man it is a day when he forcibly takes a day off and spend some his savings on food, clothes and other little luxuries.

And people like us with incomes in the 70 percentile and above range keep wishing each other - Happy Pongal, Happy Sankranthi etc etc, and take a day off to spend time in front of TV or watch a movie and spend time with family, which are our little luxuries. I think it is time for us to research into the roots of these festivals apart from the mythologies attached and understand the social aspect and we should try to reconstruct our culture in these urban jungles and make the festivals alive. Thanks to internet, we have all the information at our finger tips these days

It is time for us to take time off and indulge in activities like kite flying, making rangolis (men too can help), distribute some vegetables and rice (as is a custom in villages even today), have the pongali (a sweet dish made of late harvested rice and freshly made jaggery and milk) and other home made dishes, wear new clothes and meet friends and relatives and pray to god.

I would also like take this opportunity to mention that despite the fact that politicians are fighting over Telangana and Samikhya Andhra, this festival unites all the telugu speaking people in a unique way.

సంక్రాంతి బాగా జరుపుకోండి, ముగ్గులు బాగా వెయ్యండి వెయ్యలేకపొతే పక్క వారి గొబ్బెమ్మలు తోక్కండి, అరిసెలు, బూరెలు, చక్కిడాలు బాగా తినండి (వండటం రాక పొతే స్వగృహ స్వీట్స్ లో కొనుక్కోండి), పతంగులు లేదా గాలి పటాలు ఎగుర వెయ్యండి, ఉన్నదాంట్లో కొద్దిగా లేని వాడికి పంచండి, అందరూ సుఖంగా ఉండండి :)

Photo Courtesy: Chittaranjan's Photostream, Manavata.org