Wow! Koel has come to our campus … for the first time in the season… Cuckoo coos her annually recurrent
mellifluous song… from the mango
blossoms. Cooing of the earliest Koel,
the hum of the bees, the freshness and the fragrance of sprouted leaves,
opening blossoms, the stealthy perfume of wild-flowers in the grass… and come Chaitra, the first month of Telugu
calendar…. all that is the first of the
season greets the people … nature at its splendor hugs everyone … indeed
muzzles ‘twixt the breasts of happiness. What a sweet announcement of the arrival
of Vasant (spring) … of Ugadi!
Koel is cooing
like there is no tomorrow… perhaps, she must be aware that tomorrow is always
unborn … unfurling … ever arriving … making everyone wait—like our wait for the
arrival of koel and her serene and soothing cooing …that “uplifts the soul to realms above”… that feeds
us “joy and peace…” season after season; year after year…
Forgetting for a while that I am in
the office, sliding back into my student days —of sitting in the mango grooves
… leaning on the rough trunk of a mango tree with textbook in the lap and
struggling to make sense of the sines, co-sines, gammas and thetas that spilled
all over the page in the Statics chapter … and in between joining the koel in her cooing, indeed mocking at
her to make her sing still more enthusiastically —inadvertently started
chorusing her …. What a picturesque morning!
All this soaks me further with the
life past in that pristine sylvan surroundings. Life was arrestingly beautiful then
and the very word Vasant used to evoke a kind of indefinable Uthsaha, Ullas, Paravasya —heroic
sentiment, delight, ecstasy—then as
now. And, irrespective of the age, the very thought of Vasant used to make everyone emote similarly… Even plants —as
Valmiki observed, “pushpa mase hitaravaha sangharshadiva pushpitaha”—would flower so profusely
as though in competition with each other. No wonder if Krishna has declared, “Rutunam kusumakaraha”—Of all the
seasons, I am Vasant.
Evenings were still more beautiful:
visits to SriRamanavami pandillu
(temporary shelters) and all those gods consecrated under its shade on Chaitra suddha Padyami, the first day of
the first month of Telugu calendar commonly known as Ugadi—beginning of the new year, fine breeze steeped in smells of freshly-cut
and dried Palmyra leaves that roofed the gods and the incense thrown at them, plus
the rhythmical chanting of priests eulogizing
gods in their own language, of course, amidst the cacophony of the airy-fairy kids
playing under the pandiri (shelters) …
Magically, all of a sudden, silence dawns and everyone becomes alert for Panchanga sravanam—listening to the
reading of almanac by the Pandit. What a marvel!
And this festive atmosphere continues
for nine days till Chaitra Suddha Navami
packed with variety of programs—Harikathas,
musical concerts, Bharatnatyam and
what not … everyday starting in the evening and stretching into late night … participation
in them is a dear delight … while returning home in that late night’s silence recalling
the woes of SriRama or the sufferings of Sita in Lanka in choked voices or
animatedly discussing the pranks of Bhima against Kauravas that the Bhagavathar had just narrated
in the pandal… and so goes on the discussions even after reaching home reclining
on the bed under the sky…Finally all that merriness comes to an end on Chaitra
Suddha Navami with the celebration of SriRama’s kalyan (wedding celebration) with Sita.
All through spring, the earth painted
in glowing colors by flowers of different hues on a green canvas of “the shoots
of mango young”, the fine breeze blowing
over the fragrant jasmines, the crystal clear blue sky over them… all of this tells
you it’s time to step out of the old and reach for the new—the Ugadi. They all collectively command us
to celebrate its arrival … but not to crib —maku
ugadulu levu ushassulu levu (No new years for us/ no dawns for us )—as
Devulapalli mused. Time to go out and, fired by desire and passion— passion to
mould yourselves into some certain cute, pleasant, acceptable lot to people
around you—make the life anew! It would be yours.
Enjoy it as you can, for the Bard
warns: “… [spring] lease hath all too short a date.”
Happy Ugadi to all of you!
0 comments:
Post a Comment