Spring is here with lot of cheer

Spring is that it’s like a rebirth or renewal. It’s nature waking itself up after a long winter’s slumber. The sun is bright and new. Life giving rains come. Plants begin to bud. New life emerges in the animal and insect kingdoms. It’s a time to look forward to all the possibilities. Nothing should be out of the realm of what could occur. It’s the time to dream and set goals. It’s the time to look at the world with new eyes. Spring is the fulfillment of nature’s promise to once again provide. It marks the ending of the frozen winter with the beginning of new life and growth. It hints at the possibility of the renewal of all things.

My favorite part of spring is sights and smells of everything blooming. The most exciting part of Spring is watching animals with their new babies especially ducks and swans. Going to cousins' places or more frequently, having cousins visiting you! Playing in the park till it was real dark. Coming home sniffing the aroma of the moist earth that had greedily absorbed all of the water fed to it. Sleeping on the terrace, imagining different shapes in the clouds lazily striding above! Being awakened by the first rays of the sun and the maddening fragrance of Mogra efflorescence.

Drinking cool water from the mud Surahi and homemade pot ice cream. Sugar cane juice (Ganne ka ras) bought from the hawker making rounds in the lane. Or be cool with fresh watermelon slices or juice. Endless reading sessions, borrowing library books, finishing them before your cousins snatched them from you. Ghost stories narrated by a cousin with all the minute details about how the characters looked accompanied by effective background score, like someone screaming or birds fluttering or doors opening! Playing hide and seek at night or laughing till one became incontinent.

Deriving sadistic joy when your cousins had to do the job of filling water bottles or folding bedsheets and mattresses. Long card playing sessions marked by bitter arguments, followed by delectable snacks! Learning to ride a bicycle yourself or teaching it to a younger cousin. When I was learning it, I got off balance and fell down near a heap of garbage. My cousin, while riding a cycle shakily, hit an egg seller and made him kiss the ground, along with his wares. My uncle paid him compensation money with a face looking worse than the crushed eggs! School annual result. Returning home with pedas!

I love spring. The sky is a bright blue. The air becomes warmer; the flowers emerge from their buds. Birds chirp and butterflies flutter about. Nature is rejuvenating after a long winter. Springtime feels like reuniting with an old friend. I treasure it’s beauty. All is right with the world during April and May. Come advent of spring season.... We hear coo coo of cuckoo (koel or kokila)....we inhale bitter sweet smell of neem flowers....we feast our eyes looking at small tender green mangoes hanging in clusters from the tree...

I am from Maharashtra state in India. We welcome the spring season in our own way. We celebrate our Hindu New Year on Gudi Padva or Ugadi as it is called in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh /Telangana region. Onset of spring season is marked by “Telugu new year’s day” by us. On the day of Ugadi a certain juice like thing is made, which is called ‘Ugadi Pachchadi’ This Ugadi Pachchadi consist of six tastes. Which are also called ‘shadruchulu’

Ugadai pachchadi is made up of very tender raw mangoes, neem flowers, new tamarind, new jaggery, salt,and green chillies. All these six ingredients signify six emotions which we are going to encounter in the new year.

Sadness – Neem Flower for its bitterness

Happiness – Jaggery for sweetness

Anger – Green Chilli for its hot taste

Fear – Salt for saltiness

Disgust – Tamarind Juice for its sourness

Surprise – Tender green Mango for its tanginess.

Eating this Ugadi pachchadi is the beautiful ritual in our state. Eating Ugadi pachchadi indicates we are going to face all these emotions in the new year and we are ready to taste them equally without any remorse. In Karnataka The spring festival is known as Ugadi-A new year or Chandramana Ugadi. This time this festival is celebrated on 2nd April this year which falls on Saturday.Our nature’s beauty can be fully admired a lot during the spring season only-All the trees shed down their leaves,new leaves come out and flowers start to blossom.Birds chirp in happiness.Its a festival for the bees. Kannadigas take a oil bath on this day and decorate their houses with fresh neem and mango leaves.

In Maharashtra, we celebrate Gudi Pada by raising of Gudi, which is a silver or copper vessel hoisted like a flag on top of a long stick and it is tied with Neem leaves, Marigold flowers and decorated with garlands of frozen sugar cuts as well as it is worshipped in the morning. This marks the return of Shri Ram to Ayodhya after defeating Ravan, King of Lanka. We make sweets at home like Shrikhand or Basundi (both milk based sweets) and wish each other happy new hindu year.

In Tamil Nadu the spring festival and new year is celebrated on April 14th(Its a constant date as we follow Solar Calender.) that is Souramana Ugadi. Our new year is called as Chithirai Thirunaal or Tamil Putthandu. By April 14th all the flowers would have blossomed and fruits would have come in trees.We welcome the spring with happiness and joy. The important dish prepared on this day is Maangai Pachadi(Mango Pachadi). Traditionally we add neem flowers/Veppambu fried in ghee to this pachadi. This pachadi has all the taste- sweetness from jaggery, sourness from mangoes, bitterness from neem flowers and hotness from chillies which indicates that life is a mixture of all emotions, has ups and downs.

Baisakhi likewise alluded to as Vaisakhi or Vaisakhi, on the thirteenth or fourteenth of April consistently. Like other Indian celebrations, Baisakhi is also observed by the entire year particularly by individuals having a place with the Sikh people group as it is one of their fundamental celebrations. In addition to the fact that it marks the start of the New Year for them yet it is likewise an opportunity to praise the collecting of harvests. Baisakhi, initially a Hindu celebration relates to the Sikh celebration by Guru Amar Das. This festival is with great enthusiasm by individuals having a place with the Sikh people group throughout the planet.

Shri Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru, established the framework of the Khalsa Panth in the year 1699. The Khalsa Panth additionally occurred around the same time and it gives the Sikh people group even more motivation to praise this day. The gurudwaras across India, particularly in various areas of Punjab are full of light & decoration and see tremendous quantities of individuals visiting to offer petitions. Nagar kirtans start from gurudwaras and individuals are moving, singing, and blasting saltines to make cheerful during these parades.Numerous individuals arrange to get together at home to commend the day with their family members, companions, and partners. Therefore Spring time is a month of celebration in Indian states in various forms as explained above. Cheers!