Beyond Cookies

Very often, the response that comes back from other parents (not all) about Girl Scouts is – “Is it the one where kids sell cookies? We don’t like how the kids knock on doors and ask us to buy cookies”. To believe that Girl Scouts and cookies are synonyms is a myth.  Is this lack of awareness about Girl Scouts predominantly exists within my community? I am not sure about it.

I agree that there are some Girl Scout parents and troop leaders out there who are very aggressive and take it very personal on selling cookies so as to out beat others or just to get more revenue for their troop. I know how the people get in a spot when someone asks them to buy Girl Scout Cookies, when they are not interested to buy.  Occasionally these become an awkward situation to face either with the family, friends or at workplace. But, denying buying (if not interested for any reason) might be the best bet than to buy them out of social obligation. It would be a valuable lesson to the scout as how to deal with denial.

It is not a sensible decision not to enroll one’s kid into Girl Scouts just because they have to sell cookies. Selling cookies is just one aspect of numerous activities that the organization undertakes. Yes, Girl Scouts does talk or advertise a lot about their delicious cookies, because that is the cash cow for this voluntary, non-profit organization.

Girl scouts teaches girls to be strong, to lead, to help, to consider, to give back, to have fun and to be responsible – some or all of the basic traits a girl needs. In short, it makes the girls to learn how to be socially and environmentally survive in this competing world. It is much more beyond just selling cookies.

Tickled in Pink

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013.

A day to remember all the sacrifices...
A day to blow trumpets....
A day to smile.

 Telangana Tickled in PINK!!!

Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K. Chandrasekhara Rao garlanding the statue of Father of Telangana Agitation late Prof. K. Jayashankar in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
Source:The Hindu

Congratulations to the people of Telangana on endorsement for declaration of State of Telangana.

Luau for Birthday

Choosing a theme for the party and coming up with ideas for constructing the event around it is one interesting hobby for craft ardent people like me.  

I always admire those people for their creativity and their patience to document their skill with pictures and step by step detailed instructions.

So, here I am all set to document the event that has passed by with lots of compliments from guests who were  4 -8 years. old This post is to say thank you for all those bloggers out there for taking time from their mundane chores and sharing their creativity.

Theme of the party – Luau / Hawaii

The party setting at a glance

Party food on the table

Getting outdoors inside

Now in close up…

Helpful Tools:

• 81/2 X 11 inches white paper
• crayons
• paper streamers
• 3M Magic Tape - this is a real magic tape which is easy to take it off after the event and it does not peel the paint.
• Black Sharpie
• Scissors
• Raffia and Ribbon from Michaels
• Favors from Oriental Trading
• Paper Goods from local dollar store

Lei garlands - made from straws and streamer paper were nice accents. 

Palm Trees - Trunk of palm tree was made attaching 4 81/2 X 11 inches paper. Drew parallel lines and colored with brown crayon. Leaves were drawn on paper again and colored with green. Outlines with black sharpie has completed the effect.

Grass was green tissue paper torn by hand into long strips. 

Birds - Printed out some coloring designs from web and colored with pencils

Fringe Streamers 

Hula Skirts - These were the highlight of the party and kids really liked them. The time spent on them was totally worthwhile to see those bright smiles. Idea from Budget101

Music - Hawaiian music gave that true feeling of pleasant, and serene atmosphere. These were picked from local library. Thanks to BirthdayPartyIdeas for this tip. Kids did a freeze hula dance too other than playing these tracks in the background through out the party

Snacks and Treats
     going clock-wise -
        * popcorn served in cups decorated as hula skirt with tissue paper
        * carrots dipped in ranch served in ketchup cups
        * mixed fresh fruit with fruit forks
        * lucky to find theme related paper goods at dollar store :)

Party Favors
Pineapple cups, lei, hibiscus clips, color yourself visors and hula skirt

Games and Activities:
Limbo, freeze dance, coloring visors and free dance to pop music

and there was a blast of fun...

Celebrations and Gatherings

Thanks giving to New year is fun and festive. Here goes the list of things that were fun to do and cool to cherish...

* Paper Flower Center Pieces - Inspired from Zakka Life. They were elegant and adorable on the tables for a family party.

A couple of twigs, a little paper folding, a bud vase and TADAA...!

*  Finger Sandwiches - Recipe from Manjula's Kitchen (Picture is from her blog). Best thing about the recipe is easy to make... and were easy to carry for a pot luck at work...and were delicious...and got to hear nice compliments. :)

Personal Favorite - Pineapple and Pepperoncini.

*  Idli and Peanut Chutney for another potluck

*  Fruit Kebab for Girl Scout Holiday Party - Colorful, Healthy and Fun!

              

Deepavali Donthulu

An allude to Bommala Koluvu on Deepavali to friends and acquaintances always gets me a surprise expressions in response. Bommala Koluvu in most of the times is remembered as an event which is part of either Dasara or Sankranthi. And most of the times I go saying.... "Yes, in our region of country (Telangana) we have Koluvu (or Golu) for Deepavali".
Interestingly "Namasthe Telanagana" paper has published an article this year as how Deepavali is celebrated in this region. Here is the snippet from it which describes the significance of Bommala Koluvu during this festive season.

దొంతుల పర్వం..

ఉత్సవం జరుపుకునే విధానంలోనూ ఒక్కో ప్రాంతంలో.. ఒక్కో విధంగా జరుపుకుంటారు. దీపావళి రోజున తెలంగాణ ప్రాంతంలో దొంతుల పర్వం ప్రత్యేకంగా కనిపిస్తుంది. కుటుంబంలోని కూతుళ్లు, ఆడపడుచులకు అమ్మమ్మలు దొంతులను (చిన్న మట్టి కుండల వరుస) ప్రదానం చేస్తారు. అలా స్వీకరించిన దొంతులకు తోడు తమకు నచ్చిన, ఆకర్షణీయమైన బొమ్మలు సేకరించి ఆడబిడ్డలంతా తమ ఇళ్లల్లో అందంగా బొమ్మల కొలువును తీర్చిదిద్దుతారు. ధన త్రయోదశిగా పేర్కొనే ఆశ్వీయుజ త్రయోదశి నుంచి 5 రోజుల పాటు దొంతుల మధ్య పసుపు గౌరమ్మను లక్ష్మీదేవిగా ప్రతిష్ఠించి ప్రత్యేక పూజలు చేస్తారు. ప్రతి రాత్రి బాణాసంచా కాల్చి.. పిల్లా పాపలతో సంతోషాన్నివ్యక్త పరచడం తెలంగాణ సంస్కృతీ సంప్రదాయాల్లో భాగం.

My snapshots of this year...

         

Say NO to commercial idols

"Go Green or Recycling” - it is a the buzz that’s been going around in schools in the USA and in the world. I don’t think there would be a person from Indian origin in this country who is from Indian origin and unaware of it.

Have we not wondered and marveled about the recycling system that USA has in place? Have we not thought that why in India there is so much litter on highways and park

Being in this country at least we should have learned about how offensive is littering. Yet, its sad that our people are becoming overwhelmed with consumerism and are buying commercial Plaster-of-Paris Ganesha idols for Vinayaka Chavitihi, which are later immersed in streams at parks.

Have we not learned about how polluted Tank Bund (in Hyderabad) has come to? It might not be due to Vinayaka Nimmajjanam alone.But yes, Nimmajjanam certainly contributes a considerable share to it.

Why people are preferring to buy the idol in USA from Indian Grocery Stores, rather than making one from Clay, haldi or flour at home? I don’t 

think that people are buying them because they cannot make it at home. In this era, internet has all the answers and yes, it also has the information on how to make ‘Ganesha from Flour or Haldi’. So what is it driving to buy commercial idols? It might be a tendency of us for consumerism. Just getting or buying the things more than we ever required.

Its the time we learn something from past mistakes and protect the nature from hazardous material if we can. Just to think of it, how could we justify that age old religion as Hinduism encourages pollution.

Its a time to STOP buying plaster of paris idols with hazardous paint.Spirituality is not in offending mother nature.

Acquaintance with today’s Chanakya

I have got an opportunity to meet Dr. Subramanian Swamy over the past weekend. It was much awaited event. As many, I googled and read wikipedia on Dr.Swamy after reading the case of 2G Spectrum.  Ever since I keep following his news and news about him.

There might be very few who would not be mesmerized by his intelligence, charm and knowledge. As Chanakya,  he is an Economics Professor , he is working towards the Unity of Hindus, he is fighting for Corruption which is prevailing at the highest ranks of the Government as Chanakya once did for the betterment of his country.

There are articles and conspiracies challenging for Dr.Swamy’s reasons for his vendetta against today’s ruling party of India. One of them is his disappointment on Congress for depriving him from becoming Prime Minister. Even if it was true, does those reasons really matter? As Dr.Swamy puts it, we need to decipher the fact in his message rather than finding the rational behind his motives.

And the fact is that a mistake has been made which incurred huge loss to the people of India. Dr.Swamy is the reason for today’s awakening among people of India towards that loss. Facts that need to be justified:

• The loss that Indian Government incurred on 2G Spectrum surpasses the deficit declared in the budget.
• The loss that Indian Government incurred on 2G Spectrum if much less than what it has incurred in Coal and Oil resources auction.
• How the Indian Government has passed an amendment and law about Personal Note securities and Tax exemption of revenue from Mauritius investors for their self interested profits
• How the supreme officials of India are making money laundering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwnZZlt7C_M


All in all it was a privilege to meet such an intellectual. To listen to him in person will always be an enlightening memoir

Inspired from Madhubani

In my view, Folk Art gives an ambiance of pure, calm and relax to any place. I always liked the Indian traditional interiors. Thanks to so many bloggers out there for their interest and time which is inspiring people like me.

Madhubani is folk art from India. The simple lines and few shades of colors on canvas makes it a very subtle art. Here is my version of Madhubani - it is not a justification to the original art but it was indeed a pleasure doing it.

How Much Is It Worth?

My school had art classes, with acronym as SUPW (Socially Useful Productive Work). Back then, we could not even understand the meaning of it, except that it stands for craft class. Craft was always my favorite thing to do and I learned Knitting at school and from my mom.

Later on, I learned Crochet from one of my friends and through online free tutorials. This Fall, I crocheted a shrug for my daughter. And here the finished product.


If you ponder on the finished shrug about what is it worth after all...

2 balls of yarn : 8 USD
1 Pair of needles: 6 USD
Hours spent making it: Not counted
Proud smile on your daughter after wearing it : Priceless.

I love those Master Card Ads :). Anyways, the point is why people are still spending time making these as a hobby when they could buy at store for less money and effort? Because they love the art  and the satisfaction they get by doing it is priceless.  And it is an exercise to your mind and hands as it involves - patterns, sequence and logical thinking which we are thriving to teach our kids today.

My Gradma in Pictures

My mom likes to collect the photographs and it is always cherishing to look, ponder or recollect the memoirs while turning the albums. On my recent trip to India I got back a couple of photographs of my grandmother. One with her family when she was a 4 year old girl and the other with her mom, grandmother, daughter and granddaughter - A photograph of five generations.

It is sad that no one from this photograph is alive today but it would have been a proud moment to see and live with 5 generations of family.

Digital albums have the advantage of easiness, quality and proficient but it could not replace the experience we have with traditional album. None the less, it is the digital technology which has provided the same

Photos from India

Vanaguntala Peeta

Flowers that I often encountered as a child

Folded Flowers

సీతమ్మ వడికిన వడుకు

రాముడు నేసిన నేత

పదివేలకు ఎవ్వరూ నెయరు

పదిపైసలకు ఎవ్వరూ వల్లరు

Weaver bird nest

Chinta chiguru

Majestic Bull with its Gangadolu

Pictures from car on return journey from Tirumala

Entrance of Tirumala

Gulmohar - Fire of the forest

Annamacharya

Soumyanatha Temple

Soumyanahta Temple - Side view

Soumyanatha Temple - Front view

Things Change

Things Change...
Yes, they change...
And they are good too.

I was pondering on these words while reminiscing about my recent visit to India. No surprise that Hyderabad went through a metamorphosis in the last decade or so, but my native village and its people have changed in their living style and in their culture to some extent.

My Grand Parents used to have the cattle of about 70. There used to be at least 3 persons dedicated to take care of it. Today we have One Bull, One Cow and One Calf. Most of the families in villages are just getting rid of their cattle since it is difficult to manage. Farmers are shifting or rather shifted their crop from Agriculture to Horticulture. Where there used to acres of Green Paddy, now it just turned to be acres of Mango trees.

Human Resources are the major reason for this transformation. It is difficult to find a helping hand to take care of cattle or to manage various stages of Paddy. I think the very starting of this scarcity of human resources was when Money is replaced for Barter transactions. My grand mother used to give paddy in exchange for the services of those helping hands. Now all the transactions are in Rupees. The second would be the abuse of minimum wage policy without work policy by politicians.

My grand father never let the cattle to be sold to the butcher. Every cattle was take care even when it was not in a position to walk or sick. There was a helping hand just to take care of weak cattle - to make it stand for a while in day, so that it won’t be infected. The time has changed. Farmers are adopting commercial dairy. That humanity is lost. Cattle are no longer perceived from its divine nature.

Villages are adopting Plastic and other bio hazardous material without proper recycling system. When west is moving towards Organic, we are moving towards synthetic hormones. There is “Organic” buzz in metros but it certainly not travelled into the villages.

We have come to US in search of change, for a good change. We wanted a better life style. It might not be fair for me to expect the system and environment in my native village to stay still like it was when I was growing up. There is no harm in getting satellite dish, cell phones or adopting salwar instead of sarees and lehengas in villages , but my heart feels sorry when serenity and purity of once village environment is lost.

The change that we need to adopt should be like the cell phone revolution, where we have taken advantage of the research and technology of west and put it good use. India needs to be part re-cycling and organic revolution now rather than undoing these at later day. We should take advantage of cattle but there is a need to perceive it as divine – that would be a Good Change.

P.S. – Things Change is the song from one of the Sesame Street episodes.

Gifted Kids - A Challenge To Parents

The current moment in life has the hue of toddler parties. Birthday parties filled with jumping, tumbling and celebrating. It was one of those parties last weekend and the clown was entertaining the kids with his usual tricks of juggling and pulling the string of colorful scarf from his mouth (instead from his pocket :)). All the kids were giggling and screaming as usual.

In the middle of all this, clown filled a balloon with air but didn’t tie the end of the balloon and gave it to a kid, to hold it. The trick is to make the audience laugh when the balloon goes Swoooooooooooosh in a zig zag angle before the kid holds on to the end of the balloon passed on by the clown.

And as usual kids started laughing and clown was saying to the kids “………hey what happened to the balloon…. I gave you to hold……” in a typical clown’s tone. Here an 11 year old gifted boy said to clown that “You should say…. Newton’s third law is making the balloon to fly….”

I was surprised and was recollecting what Newton’s third law was. However, I couldn’t recall. I was thinking what fun will those gifted kids have? Why din’t the boy giggle along other kids? He is looking for reason for the cause instead. May be their fun is in discovering those reasons.

I was wondering how much challenge it is to the parents and teachers of these extraordinarily talented kids to provide an entertainment, a conversation or an activity to play on a rainy day. And how difficult it is for the kid to find a peer who could enjoy the reasoning behind everything that goes around them?

Seeing an A+ on report card may not be challenging as it is for parent like me, but it takes an ample amount patience and dedication to nurture these kids.

And Google helped my brain to gather my memory on Newton's third law :) - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Glee

Netflix has recently included Glee Season 1 into their online streaming collection, and ever since I am watching it back to back episodes late night. No wonder that it has captured so many Emmy awards and higher ratings.

It has been a while since I have enjoyed any sitcom. Glee’s retrospective of very subtle norms of education system and society in general is very brilliant. It makes you wonder if the directors have chosen the songs for occasion or created the occasion for song, but everything in the series is very Gleeful. Amazing performances by Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer.

It also gives a little glitch when visualizing the American High School environment, which has to be taken on by my kids one day :). It is worth watching to made a day filled with Glee

Mahatma A Hero

I was reading books about African American leaders for my daughter, that she got from school as part of her home. There were books about Barack Obama and Martin Luther King. Both of them consider Mahatma Gandhi as their hero.

That made me to recall that when I was in elementary school, I never visualized Mahatma as a Hero. My grand father was a true Gandhian and he was nick named as “Shadnagar Gandhi” - Shadnagar is the province of my native village. As a child, I had few negative influences about Gandhi.

At our native home we had a unique poster of a huge tree with all the Indian Freedom fighters’ faces as leaves, fruits, branches and trunk of tree. It had numerous faces which were not very popular as ‘Captain Lakshmi’. At the center of the tree was of course Mahatma Gandhi.

Once in a while my cousins used to admire that picture, going through all the faces and reading their names. Every time we used to either hate or curse Gandhi, for being in the center of the tree. Not sure, how we ended up with that thought, but we used to think that Gandhi was bad for India. May be as a kid we were just following the leader in the group. It was always Bhagath Singh and Bose that we admired as Heroes. Of course , even as of today that admiration did not diminish.

During that time we never understood the meaning of ‘Hero’. Was it because of Tollywood effect? May be or May be not. Because most of fairy tales were also involved of fighting with enemy rather than making peace with it.

I was almost in high school, to realize that, it is not Gandhi’s decision on partition that made him a Mahatma, but, it was all about his principles and binding to them, and his simple life. One of my English lessons in high school was about Gandhi’s last day. I remember my teacher mentioning that who would say ‘Hey Ram’ when he gets shot from a bullet? Gandhi dint say ‘Aah’ or any other word that an average man would otherwise utter, but it was ‘Hey Ram’ in a very mild tone. We don’t hear any complain or pain in the way those words are uttered. No ordinary man can act like that.

I am glad that, today I could make my child see as why Gandhi has to be a hero. And thanks to the brilliant Hollywood movie ‘Gandhi’. And thanks to all those books out there which are making
parents and kids to think and wonder.

Continuing Our Struggle...

It’s been a year. A year of agitations, A year of restlessness and more importantly a year filled with losses. Loss of Souls, Money and time over the past year and half, which are irrevocable.

After incurring all these, we are still circling round with same issues and demands of separate Statehood. There is no progress from Government or the leaders, towards that goal except. Over the last year and more, time has increased the strength and unity of the people of Telangana if not anything else.

Last year, Government and Police could stop Assembly Muttadi that was conspired by students with a great armed force. This year, people’s strength has overcome that force from Police and were able to achieve their aim.

It does not seem a likely factor that TDP and Congress leaders would resign to create the vacuum, as the likelihood of re-electing them after the resignation is very slim compared to that of last year. In this heat, people would not vote for them even if they resign for the cause.

Will the Government pass the bill in parliament for separate statehood or do we need to wait for elections of 2014? People have waited for 50+ years for this and they might wait for another 4 years. But at what price? Congress has spent 40+ crores on SKC, which they know from the day one, that the outcome of the committee would not be regarded. Was it worth to spend that kind of common man’s money for the sake to merely pause the agitation for less than a year? How much would they spend and how much people need to loss in another 4 years?

Last year, people of Telangana might have not seen people from Andhra and Rayalaseema with indifference. It was the conception that the agitation for separate statehood is nothing to do with the people of other regions, but everything to do with its leaders. If this agitation continues, I think the indifference and hatred would grow between the common people of three regions.

Lets hope and cross our fingers about passing the bill in Parliament by end of March 2011.

A Cooking Mishap

Weather you cook with a passion for cooking or cook because it is one of the daily chores, we do come across cooking mishap at least once. Reason for the mishap could be anything from misinterpreting the instructions in the recipe or recipe itself has missed few ‘obvious’ or ‘default’ steps of cooking which are not so obvious or default for the beginners in the cooking.

With numerous recipes by cuisines over the net, I am sure people do stumble upon making a blunder and end up either laughing at outcome or cursing about the time and work that has been wasted on the recipe.

Corn vada (Mokkajonna Vada ) was one of my favorite snack in India. I like the hot and spicy food compared to the sweets.The most bizarre part of this recipe is taking the seeds off the kernels. It is a time consuming process but all the effort is worth while for those delicious vadas.

After coming to US, I saw frozen corn seeds. Seeds removed from kernels, processed and ready to cook. I was excited because it took off the time consuming step of peeling the seeds off. So, I got them and blended them with ginger, garlic and green chilies…. the regular ingredients.

The blended paste dint look like how it supposed to look. Nevertheless I convinced my mind that, it is alright since all it matters is the taste. I heated oil in the pan and started dropping the batter into it. I could not make the shape of the vada with the batter as it was too soft. So, I went ahead and dropped the batter as round balls with the spatula. The batter was breaking in the oil which it was not supposed to. Then I was little suspicious that there might be a mishap on the way.

After frying the first batch of vadas or balls, I have put one of it in my mouth with imaging the authentic corn vada taste… as salty, spicy and with little crunchy. To my surprise…it tasted too SWEET :(. I dint read the bold letters on the package ‘Sweet Corn’. :(

That was my last attempt of making corn vadas. Though I am not very passionate for cooking, I do try new and old recipes from the family, friends and of course from cyber. Nothing yet has disappointed me as Corn Vadas.

How about censor rating to songs?

Lately I was thinking may be it is the time to give censor ratings to song lyrics and video weather it is a private album or filmy. Today, there are just a couple of lyricists in Bollywood who are known for clean and good lyrics. Most of videos of songs in Indian cinema have moved beyond the point of vulgarity and we could no longer watch them along with kids let alone enjoy them.

Though the entertainment channels and means have increased tremendously, none of them are relaying quality work that would make an average educated consumer to wait eagerly for the next episode.

Let alone picturization of songs, but the lyrics itself are not appropriate for all ages. If we think they are not appropriate, then don’t we need to have censor ratings for them? Recently I was listening to pee loon from Once upon a time in Mumbai. The voice of the singer and music are really soft and melodious. But the lyrics made me not like it. Imagine the kids singing it, in all their innocence.

That was just one song that is top of my head now, but even in Telugu movies the lyrics are at the lowest level in terms of quality. Except for Javed Akhtar and Gulzar in Bollywood I dint come across the lyricists in recent times whose lyrics really mean something and make you feel the words. So, is with Telugu. Except for a few as Veturi and Sirivennela there are no lyricists who are doing justification to the thoughts intentioned in the song.

For me, it is all in the alfaaz along with the melody. That is what touches your heart and that is what makes you connect to the feel of the song weather it is sad or joy or love.

Deepavali Bommala Koluvu

It was Deepavali and as with every year, it was busiest time for me to arrange Bollamala Koluvu. I was packing all the toys, dolls and decorations after one week of displaying them. There is one 4” doll with cute braids for which my mom crocheted a dress a couple of years back. It reminds me of one my own doll that I had when I was little. I remember, the day when my peddamma asked as what I would like to have for a gift for my birthday. I don't remember which birthday that was, but i was fancied with a doll which will close its eye when tilted.

It was one adorable doll to have. It was a dream come true of a typical girl when peddamma got it for me. I sure did spent a lot of pretend play with it. There were other dolls which my mom used to take out only during Deepavali for Bommala Koluvu and pack it back once it is done. Nevertheless I still used to feel attached to every single one of it. May be that is the beauty of Bommala Koluvu, it makes you get fond of it.

I come across people who ask as what is the significance of Bommala Koluvu. Coming to significance, apart from praying and thanking God, it was a form of entertainment and relaxation for the women in the olden days. One would think as if that significance still hold good for today’s times, when women of today have numerous other things to amuse themselves with. Well, I look at Bommala Koluvu as an exhibit of collections, talent and imagination of women who arrange it and imagination and creativity will never become obsolete.

It is a kind of art, where you could display ones talent of sculpture to landscaping to designing to painting in the means of rangoli or modeling a town or village or an mythological or historical epic. It is one household’s museum where the family will open their exhibition once a year and each year has a new collection of imagination adhering to the old ones at the same time.

What other best way could you think of for kids of today’s generation, here at overseas, to get acquainted with Indian culture and history, and at the same time, have an opportunity to express their own art? We tend to take up classes for our children to learn art, and Bommala Koluvu in my thoughts is one of the means to enjoy that art. Bommala Koluvu is a conglomerate art of entire family.

Here is our collection of toys - Traditional, Modern, Contemporary, Sweet and everything in between :)

Holding on to traditions.

Few weeks’ earlier Telangana Foundation has organized Bathukamma celebrations in NJ. This is one of the events they are organizing since few years now and it is a candid feeling to see all the arrangements of flowers and going round in a group around them. The event exemplifies the significance of holding to the traditions and passing it over to our next generation. I am glad that these events are being organized and were successful over seas.

I think Dasara is the festival and gala meant for towns and villages. There is no equivalent atmosphere to celebrate it in cities. I remember the boring days of Dasara in Hyderabad during 90’s when our family had to celebrate it there. I encountered people whose family tradition had Bathukamma but they just wanted to get it over with it by placing a few petals in the saucer and immersing in a small container of water within the portico of the house. It could have been due to the limited resources in the city or due to our inherent shyness and introvert nature of Telanganites. Probably my family would have done the same if we had tradition of Bathukamma and had to celebrate it in the city.

Thanks to Telangana movement for taking out that introvert nature from the people and making Bathukamma an event to cherish and celebrate no matter where you live. This year’s credit for success should go to KCR’s Kavitha, for mobilizing and giving that confidence and push to the people.

I hope we will hold on to this and many other traditions even after we achieve the goal of independent State. I also hope we won’t get carried away with it so much that we end up incorporating non – green paraphernalia into it as we did with Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.

Few Snapshots of the event in NJ