Today was the day before Ugadi, the Telugu New Year. In the office we had a contest where the technologists dressed in their best Indian clothing - best dressed man and best dressed woman contest followed.
Additionally, there was the "bay decoration" contest during the day, wherein the associates decorated their bay (section of cubicles) with flowers, banana leaves and altars to Hindu gods. As always, it was very beautiful to the eye.....
I am always asked to be a judge for these type of events, so I did for this contest, as well. Great fun.
In two of the bays they had a terracotta pot which contained "pachadi", a chutney for Ugadi. I ate some. Chapadi has six flavors which epitomize different flavors of life - salt, bitter, sweet, spice, sour, pungent. Which taste you taste when first having some pachadi is supposed to tell you how your coming year will be.
I tasted masala - the spice. We'll see what that means in the coming year....
