Ugadhi ….turned to be Black Friday!!!!

It’s 27th March 2009...Another “Ugadhi” for the Kannadiga’s and Andhrites…Many of my colleagues have taken off…My children also had their holiday……My daughter was not in a good mood this morning…She was asking her Acchan “you are going to office ?? No holiday…Amma also has office….No holiday? ..” She barged into me whilst I’m off to take my bath..….”Amma, you don’t go to office today…Be at home…”…I tried to pacify her…and promising that I’ll be back home early around 5’0 clock…She is not happy with my discourse…..I did not show my tear filled eyes to her closing the bathroom door behind her….What a cruelty that I’m offering to my kids!!!

The day passed by in snail pace with most of my friends on leave to celebrate their ugadhi…a festival of colors and different tastes..I remember once long back I’ve tasted this specific mixture made of Neem Buds/Flowers for bitterness, Raw Mango for tang, Tamarind Juice for sourness, Green Chilli / Pepper for hottness , Jaggery for sweetness, Pinch of Salt for saltiness..popularly called "Ugadi Pachhadi" in Telugu and "Bevu-Bella" in Kannada. This mixture comprising of all six tastes symbolizes the fact that life is a mixture of different experiences (sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise) which should be accepted together and with equability….Something my piece of brain and my interpretation….May it is same meaning or slightly different…pardon me , if I’m wrong…..

One of my next cubicle pal (Kannadiga) is getting transferred from Chennai to Bangalore, her hometown…meaning her parents have settled down there…She is happy gal finally her long endless pursuit of joining back with her parents have fulfilled her dreams ..Her ugadhi turned out to be the most happy new year she is going to relish her entire life, of course my perspective… She hates Chennai…She had a memorable adieu party lasting for 1 hour, I believe..the whole project group got locked themselves in a meeting room running slideshows after slideshows each of the team member saying their farewell speech..So lovely…We, a bunch of onlookers, were busy peeping into the room infreqently through the mirrored window…happily enjoying a matinee show with Lata Mageshgar’s song running as background score with slideshows in the front…They hardly realized that the people sitting outside the meeting room could hear and shedding couple of tear drops for the poor gal…sigh....

I didn’t have the mood to sit in office for long time because my daughter’s conversation was very much lingering on my ears word by word…reverberating all over my head…well beyond the sound of microphone over my head…My hubby reached my office to pick me up…He opened the conversation ..”u know this person….S…., the guy from Pune..who is my ex-colleague at ….”..Yeah…”His son died today morning…”..WHAT????.....”seems like he was having pain in the hip area…diagnosed as appendicitis by doc..but being a small boy…they thought they can cure by medicines…”…My hubby continued with tears trickling his eyes…..He was driving too…Nothing really reached into my head….It seems my hubby has called this person yesterday while he was in Cochin while waiting for this train back to Chennai……He picked his mobile after several calls and he was saying that he is in the hospital with his son…and …he wished my hubby “Happy Ugadi”..and he says his ugadi is not going to be good..as his son is suffering from this pain and his daughter is just out of chicken pox last week…sounded so depressed…and he has advised my hubby to spend a lot of time with kids……That saddened both of us to great extent…The rest of the way, we were silient …didn’t realize that we ‘ve reached home…..to see our children playing in the parking lot….My son and daughter were so enthralled to open the gate for us…..I was standing with my handbag and lunch box looking at my children with a film of tear on my eyes…I hugged and kissed both of them with all my energy…and I felt sick deep within me……………………..

Whenever I feel sad, or face situations which are too much to handle by myself..I go to temple….My hubby also felt the same I believe…He wanted the children to take them for their usual cycle ride….I invaded them to the nearest temple…Swamy Ayappan and Guruvayoorrappan temple….We were right on time…..The deeparathana was about to start…

I’ve so many nagging random thought process running all over my brain and in fact questioning the great LORD right in front of me..…Why this is happening to us? ..u lord, we cry and cry to bless us with healthy children…one fine day, we are blessed with our lovely ones..and another day, you just like that take those loved ones from us. Is this how you treat your children???? We parents convert our blood and soul to bring up our children…and due to the wrong diagnosis of some doc, we have to loose our loved ones…..why this? Are you lord, playing with us?...Yeah, the Almighty, you are the creator, and the destroyer….You are all…..

After the deeparathana, my heart tend to become peaceful……The temple is being recently renovated with new flooring of marbonite…my son says “Entha idu potti irukunnathu? Pottambalama aiyi..? “…(why is the floor broken? Bad temple it has become)….We had a glass of pal payasam…tasted like ambrosia……we reached home to have our dinner….watched TV …and off to sleep…..