vyaya nama samvastara

..subhakankshalu.
Happy New Year to all Telugus!

May we spend more of our wisdom and less of our money, coz essentially the name means – spend. Imagine having a year named after ‘expense’ …..hmm.. Life in a normal jogging routine makes sure money flows freely enough without having a special category and namesake. Really don’t see any reason why years get named such.
Maybe we will have a year called – ambition, love, sacrifice, oh how about humor, irony and heck let’s add jealousy too! I really do not know if such names exist, but then again, I donno if they don’t either. So much for fun 🙂

Apparently the new year spans 2 days – one evening, a night, and then the day, and so many of our freinds and relative chose to celebrate it today. I made the whole dhamaka yesterday. I miss home during such special days.
I tried doing what I could – kolam outside my front door, ugadi pachadi, the whole 5 course menu, and even managed to get everyone wear one piece of new clothing. It still doesn’t feel the same. I do not like the idea of having to shift the celebration for the weekend. My dad worked too, and we had schools too, but I don’t remember shifting festivals to the Saturday following the day to feel good about it.

My friend called me over, and asked if we could go to the temple together. So we went. It was empty, and in the whole 20 mts we spent there, we saw exactly 6 people. 2 pujaris, and 3 ladies, and 1 kid. But I felt good. I am not too much of a religious, and definitely not a ritualistic person. Religion and God are personal for me. But as I grow older I realize that being ritualistic or going through the motions of our heritage or culture or family, is really not for yourself, but for what you can pass on to your kids. It’s a memory, a remnant, a legacy that you leave behind in their minds, so it stays as a marker. Pulled up whenever it is woken during the course of life.
I should make an effort henceforth. The children are old enough to understand and follow, but old enough to ask a ton of related questions for which I may not know answers.

Sometimes I feel teaching them to differentiate between right and wrong is good enough to make a valuable and worthy individual out of them. … and then there are days when that much just doesn’t cut it. We can do better.

Maybe this year…