Dubai: The Telugu community in the UAE celebrated their new year on Thursday. The Hevalambi Ugadi festival was celebrated with fervour and devotees thronged the temples in Bur Dubai since early morning. Ugadi is also the new year of Kannadigas.
As part of the celebrations, expatriates from the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana decorated their houses with fresh mango leaves, marigolds and chrysanthemums and prepared the traditional Ugadi Pachadi.
The pachadi is a concoction comprising different tastes such as bitter (neem flower), sweet (jaggery), salt, hot (green chillis) and sour (raw mango and tamarind) and fresh coconut symbolising the fact that life is a mixture of different experiences -- pleasant and not so pleasant, which should be accepted with equanimity in the year ahead.
Another traditional dish that is made and served to friends and exchanged with neighbours is poli or holige in Kannada, which is a flat Indian bread stuffed with a mixture of cooked of jaggery and gram dal (lentils) flavoured with cardamom and ghee (clarified butter).
About 100 people from both these communities gathered at a private villa in Arabian Ranches to usher in their new year. They exchanged greetings and wishes for a happy and prosperous year ahead.
Lakshmi and Shekar Reddy, who hosted the Ugadi get-together arranged Panchanga Sravanam, an integral part of Ugadi celebrations. It was conducted by Vakkantham Chandramouli, a renowned scholar from Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana.
Panchangam is an Indian almanac of key dates of festivals and also contains predictions based on individuals zodiac signs.
Reddy, a businessman, said it gave him immense pleasure celebrating Ugadi amidst his friends and relatives who have come all the way from Bangalore. His wife, Lakshmi Reddy, echoed his sentiments and said it "was the best Ugadi" she ever celebrated with so many guests at her place.
HH Belagur, a Kannadiga, said: "We have spent a memorable Ugadi after a gap of almost two decades. The importance of Ugadi will not be complete without Panchang Sharavan. We are fortunate to listen to Chandramouli."
It is not just Hindus who celebrate this festival. Jaffar Ali, who hails from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, and attended the celebrations along with his wife Dr Parveen Banu and his elderly mother and daughter, said; "Even being outside mother India, Ugadi was celebrated with full of festive atmosphere in Dubai. The highlight of the event was Ugadi Pachadi which signifies various aspects of life such as Happiness, sorrow, anger, bitterness , surprise, fear."
Chandramouli said while many people back home are forgetting the traditions and festivals he was impressed to see so many people gather to celebrate Ugadi with a festival dinner comprising Telugu cuisine.
What is Ugadi
Ugadi is a combination of two words Yuga (era) and Adi (beginning).
Each yuga has a cycle of 60 years and each year of Ugadi has a specific name, beginning with Prabhava. This year's name is Hevalambi. A person born last Hevalambi will be celebrating Sashtipruti or 60th birthday this year.
The Telugu new year falls on Chaitra Shudda Padyami, that is a day after the first new moon after the sun passes the equator on the spring equinox, based on the Hindu lunar calendar.
Maharashtrians celebrate their new year as Gudi Padwa.
