Happy Ugadi!

Today is a special ‘new year’ festival here in Andhra Pradesh. It is the end of the harvest and beginning of the next cycle of life. Good foods were prepared from the abundance of things grown here (although the fact that it is the season for grapes – my favorite part – has been largely overlooked). Unusually, it has been raining periodically here in Hyderabad. This is wonderful news for those of us dreading the building heat of this time of year, but not such great news for farmers planting for the next year.

It seems like there are a lot of new year celebrations – for different religious, cultural, educational and regional groups here. It really gives someone like me a chance to regularly reflect on how I might want to refresh my perspective and set new goals. It turns out that I need to do that a lot anyway just to keep up with the constant changes in my life. I am regularly emerging from some new phase of life or cultural adjustment, only to have to set some new goals and re-evaluate my expectations.

As my friends just graduated from UTC and are facing their new adventures in life (see photo), I am welcoming some students back to HMI after their internships only to prepare them (and other students also) for their own graduation and next steps. At the same time, I am looking ahead to the start of the next academic year for HMI. In my personal life, I am trying to move towards some non-HMI activities in my life and manage stress better.

Hyderabad has opened its new airport now… and it happens to not be very far from HMI. This means that traffic has increased in our area and many new businesses are likely to pop up in the near future, but most of all, it means that picking up visitors is that much easier! Although I am planning a visit home in July, I finally feel as though I am settled enough here to receive visitors at any time.

Short note today – but sent with heaps of good wishes from me for a sense of renewal and new beginnings for you as well.