Happy Ugadi (New Year) to all my blog
readers and friends out there.
Yuga - adi means the beginning of a new era and a new Hindu lunar calendar. The festival of Ugadi is celebrated on the first day of the Chaitra month (Lunar Calendar) in the states of Andhra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. It is believed that Lord Brahma, the creator of the Universe on this day created days, months, years and the vital elements of nature.One of the main item, that is made today is a Pickle. The six tastes of this Pickle are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and spicy and the basic ingredients that go into this Pickle are Cane sugar, Neem flower buds, mango, tamarind, chilli and salt. These ingredients reflect the six aspects or emotions of life like Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. Thus, the significance of these tastes in Ugadi Pickle is that Life is a mixture of all these situations, emotions and one has to learn to live with these with a Spirit of equanimity and steadiness. The Ugadi Pickle my wife made this morning had all but one ingredient missing. That is the Neem flower buds (bitter taste) which I would have found by flying to Queensland or something but, incidentally I happened to buy a Bottle of Neem Juice last night at an Indian grocery store. Just mixed a spoon of that Juice and that made everything perfect.
