Happy Bathukamma!

There was something special about Dasara in my childhood. Growing up in Warangal, I experienced a festive atmosphere that was truly one of a kind. Those days, those celebrations, that feeling... I don't think they'll ever come back.

Whatever I have achieved since moving to Hyderabad, nothing comes close to the happiness I experienced during those childhood festivals.

And whenever I think of Bathukamma and Dasara, one place instantly comes to mind.

Cut to -

On Saddula Bathukamma, hundreds of thousands of people would gather near Ursu Gutta, celebrate Bathukamma, immerse the floral arrangements in the water, eat saddulu (traditional festive food offerings), and head home. In the middle of all this, there were the vendors selling lai lappalu, colorful paper fans, squeaky whistles, and ice cream. The whole atmosphere had a charm of its own.

Dasara was no different. We would watch the burning of Ravana near Ursu Gutta with tremendous excitement.

Dasara meant new clothes, chicken curry, puris, relatives, bottles of liquor... Everyone you ran into seemed to be on a natural high. No festival, no occasion in Hyderabad has ever given me that same feeling.

I wonder what it is like there now.

Do people still celebrate as grandly as we did in our childhood?

Have all the changes modern life has brought to our people's lifestyles left the joy of those Dasara celebrations intact?

Or has the festival, too, slowly faded away there, confined to four walls, just as it has here?

I may not make it this time, but next Dasara, I definitely want to visit our Ursu Gutta.

Those days when we'd race from home to Ursu Gutta, rolling bicycle tires along with sticks... The lake surrounding the hill... The custard apples we'd pluck after climbing to the top... The Ranganayakula temple up there... The Damera Guttalu visible in the distance... And the modugu flowers we'd gather by climbing those hills to bring home to make the colors of Holi...

They're childhood memories, after all. How can we ever forget them?

Wishing everyone a happy Bathukamma!

— Manohar Chimmani