Karthika Masam, Vanabhojanalu & my birthday parties.

I have celebrated a few of my birthdays in orchards or in fields; under trees, especially when it falls in ‘Karthika Masam’. My birthday is on 16^th November and this date sometimes coincides with the Telugu month called Karthika Masam. Karthika Masam is considered very auspicious; it starts a day after the major festival of Deepavali. A popular ritual practiced in this month is ‘Vanabhojanalu’ literally meaning having food in gardens. Most families in Andhra Pradesh; as a group of relatives or as members of a large association go on picnics in this month and spend the whole day in a garden or in the wilderness. While my father was working in Singareni Collieries at Kothagudem, persons of our community used to organize ‘Karthika Vana Samaradhana’ on a large scale in our 5-acre mango grove. This tradition continued for over 15 years until my father retired from service and sold away the garden before shifting back to Secunderabad. This experience and tradition has prompted me to host my birthday parties outdoors when it falls in Karthika Masam.

The above photos are of my recent birthday party in a Mango grove 60 Kms. away from Secunderabad on National highway 7. It is also considered very auspicious to have food under a Gooseberry tree (Usiri/Amla tree), which you can see in these photographs.

The families of my brother, sister, my two nieces and the families of my wife’s brother & sister joined us in this celebration. Everyone assembled at our house by 8:00 AM, and after breakfast we started for the picnic, at the mango grove of my friend. We travelled in four cars and on our way we first went to Sri Narasimhaswamy Temple at Nacharam. To reach the Temple we have to take a diversion, a right turn on NH 7 after travelling about 48 Kms. and from there the Temple is at a distance of 6 Kms. All of us performed Archana and had a good darshanam. Then we returned to NH 7 and proceeded to the Mango grove which I had visited on few occasions with my family.

The weather was very good for a long drive and a picnic. Being winter it was cool and more so as it was very cloudy. There was also a light drizzle on and off but it did not affect our activities. It is a huge field of 20 acres with most part of it for the mango trees and some area for paddy cultivation and some area for sugarcane plantation. We strolled around in the mango grove and the fields, had a sumptuous lunch under the trees, played a few games and returned home late in the evening. Everyone enjoyed the outing.

You may see two more blog-posts, related with our Vanabhojanalu-outings by clicking on the following links:

Yet another ‘Karthika Masam, Vanabhojanala- Birthday party’ of mine!

Family Picnic of 22nd November 2009.