“In our village, Kodakandla, in Siddipet District, everyone comes together to celebrate the floral festival Bathukamma, which is an embodiment of Telangana’s rich cultural identity. As a child, I would wait throughout the year for Dussehra, my favorite festival, only because I could wear new clothes and meet my cousins and relatives at one place. We would wake up early in the morning to gather all kinds of flowers to make the Bathukamma, like Thangedu puvvulu, Gunugu puvvulu, Banthi puvvulu, Gummadi puvvulu, Vaamma puvvulu etc. Each of these flowers has medicinal values.
We thank our Goddess Gowri for blessing our crops, the income she helped us generate this year and ask her to bless us the next year too. All of us dress up in traditional attires and participate in various rituals during the festival. There are many mythological stories about Bathukamma. Our ancestors believed that there was a king and his queen who lost their sons on the war front. They hence offered prayers to Goddess Lakshmi for her to be born as their daughter. The Goddess heard their pleas and agreed. On her birth, many pundits visited the baby at the royal palace and blessed her by calling Bathukamma or ‘live forever’.
While there are many stories about the origin of Bathukamma festival, I believe that the festival is all about cleaning the demons in our mind and bringing about a change among everyone for a good and prosperous life.”

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