For Mumbaikar Rasika Pote, Gudi Padwa is very important. It is a festival she has celebrated with her family every year, but that changed a few years ago when she moved to Delhi for work. “I miss puran poli made by mum,” shares the 34-year-old getting emotional. “I am away from home, but the festive spirit is always with me,” she adds. 

Every year, Maharashtrians along with natives of Goa, Daman and some part of Karnataka, celebrate Gudi Padwa, one of the many spring festivals taking place around India, during this time of the year. Incidentally, it also happens to be the Marathi New Year or the Hindu New Year. While the festivities may differ, the traditions are followed by every community in different ways. This year, it will be celebrated on March 30.

When it comes to the Maharashtrian community, they traditionally place the ‘Gudi’, a stick with an inverted pot, at the entrance of their home either on the window or the gate, to ward off evil. Being away from home, Pote says, “I don’t put the gudi in Delhi, but I do dress up, do my puja through a video call with parents.”
It is quite different from her time in Mumbai. The creative professional adds, “When I get a chance to be in Mumbai, we raise the Gudi in the balcony and the whole family does the puja and eat neem and jaggery as prasad and finally then feast on puran poli, khadi saakhar. Puran Poli is my absolute favourite.”

Pote’s love for Gudi Padwa stems from all her memories of celebrating the festival while growing up. “My fondest memories of celebrating Gudi Padwa in Mumbai was waking up and getting the gudi ready as we have to wash the stick, put haldi and kumkum and then drape the saree with the earthen kalash on the top. My sister and I would divide the responsibilities of getting the Gudi ready.” While the celebrations are different now, she continues her family tradition of observing the festival, even though she is away rom home, as it reminds her of family and home in Mumbai.