సంక్రాంతి శుభాకాంక్షలు. By the time Sankranti arrives, the paddy is cut, the bullocks have done their year, and the granary is full. It is the one week when the farm slows down enough to look back at everything the season gave us.
We wash the cattle at the well, paint their horns, and tie a string of marigolds across the gate. The children draw muggu at the doorstep before sunrise, and the first batch of fresh bellam goes straight into a pot of pongali.
What the harvest taught us
Every Sankranti we sit together and read the year honestly. Which native paddy held up through the dry spell, which millet the birds loved a little too much, and which beds need a longer rest before we sow again.
A good harvest is not the one that fills the most sacks. It is the one that leaves the soil ready to give again.
If you are near Chilukur during the festival, the gate is open. Come for a banana-leaf meal, watch the bullock-cart go round, and take home a little of the new jaggery.