Celebration of Karthika Masam Vanabhojanam and November Birthdays – 2018.

The Telugu lunar month of 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 Telugu speaking States of Telangana and 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, under trees. They have a good time chitchatting, playing games, loitering around and enjoying foods most liked by them.

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 garden. There used to be a puja to the Amla tree, lots of entertainment and rich foods for close to 150 people. This tradition continued for over 15 years until my father retired from service and sold the garden before shifting back to Secunderabad. This experience and the pleasure we derived from such daylong picnics has kept the tradition of Vanabhojanalu going on in our family. Mango gardens and farmhouses owned by friends or resorts around the city of Hyderabad help us in this celebration.

This year’s Karthika Masam commenced on 8th November 2018 and will be ending on 6th December. So on a recent Sunday, 18th November, we went out for Vanabhojanalu with the families of my siblings and my wife’s siblings, as usual. This time the venue was a huge Mango Garden owned by our neighbor located 35 km away from our house in a very serene and lovely place beyond Keesara town.  Of course, there were other trees like Usiri/Amla and huge Teak, Coconut, Tamarind, and Neem trees. It was a potluck party with all families participating in it. Everyone enjoyed the picnic in that calm and lovely environment with lots of games in the open and under the trees, with good food and a group-birthdays celebration.

When Karthika Masam coincides with major part of November month; we also celebrate birthdays of seven family members (including mine) born in November, during this daylong Vanabhojanala function.

The attached pictures are of this year’s Vanabhojanam and Birthday celebrations.

May GOD’s blessings and your good wishes be with our families forever.

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