Avurudu Away From Home: A Sri Lankan Student in Pune
Two thousand kilometres from Colombo, we still made kiribath. Here is what Avurudu felt like from Pune.
Sinhala and Tamil New Year is the most important day on the Sri Lankan calendar. I grew up in Colombo knowing Avurudu as the smell of kiribath before sunrise, new clothes laid out the night before, and Amma waking everyone up for the nakath rituals. I never thought I would spend it in Pune. But this year I did. And something unexpected happened. I realised how much home means when you are far from it.
If you are a Sri Lankan student thinking about studying in India, or already here, this is the side of study abroad that no one puts in the brochure.
What Avurudu Actually Means Before You Leave
Most people outside Sri Lanka know very little about Avurudu. It is not just a public holiday. It is a coordinated, astrologically timed set of rituals. The nakath times, auspicious moments designated by astrologers, dictate exactly when you light the hearth, eat your first meal of the year, anoint yourself with oil, and begin work for the new year. Every family follows these times. Even families that are not particularly religious treat the nakath with seriousness.
Back in Colombo, the days before Avurudu felt electric. Markets overflowed with sweetmeats: kavum, kokis, aluwa, and athirasa. Neighbours exchanged plates of food. My grandmother would start preparing a week in advance. The smell of coconut milk and jaggery cooking filled the whole house.
When I decided to study at a Pune university through fn.mahacet.org, I knew I was trading some of this. I did not know how much until the first April away.
The First Avurudu Away From Home
The year I moved to Pune, Avurudu arrived without warning. Not in the literal sense. I knew the date. But nothing prepares you for waking up on April 13 in a hostel room with no smell of kiribath, no nakath alarm set by Amma, and no family crowded in the next room.
I called home at 6 AM for the hearth-lighting nakath. Thatha answered in a new white shirt. Amma was in the kitchen. My sister waved from behind the stove. I was wearing yesterday's t-shirt in a Pune apartment.
Honestly, I cried a little. Then I ate instant noodles and went to class.
How We Make Avurudu Work in Pune
By the second year, I had figured it out. A small group of us, four Sri Lankan students scattered across Pune universities, decided to do it properly.
We found a South Indian grocery store near FC Road that stocked coconut milk and rice flour. We ordered jaggery online. On the morning of Avurudu, we gathered in one apartment and made kiribath from scratch. It was lumpy. It was too sweet. But we ate it at the correct nakath time while video calling our families back home.
One of us had brought a small oil lamp from Colombo. We lit it. We observed the traditions we could reconstruct.
That afternoon, eight families back in Sri Lanka crowded into someone's living room on the other end of a video call. We laughed about the lumpy kiribath. We felt less far away.
What Distance Does to Cultural Identity
This is something no one tells you when preparing to study abroad. Distance does not diminish cultural identity. For many Sri Lankan students, it sharpens it.
When Avurudu arrives in Colombo, it is everywhere. Observing it is automatic. When you are in Pune, observing it is a choice. And choosing to make kiribath, to light a lamp, to call home at the nakath time, is a deliberate act of identity.
I am more conscious of being Sri Lankan now than I was when I lived there. The distance teaches you who you are. That is not in any university prospectus.
I know more about our traditions because I have had to reconstruct them without the infrastructure of home. I know which rituals matter enough to maintain, and which ones I did simply because everyone around me did them.
What Sri Lankan Students Should Know
If you are considering studying in Maharashtra, a few things go beyond fees and courses.
The Sri Lankan community in Pune and Mumbai is small but warm. Students across Savitribai Phule Pune University, Symbiosis International University, and other Maharashtra colleges share this experience. You find each other quickly.
India celebrates its own New Year traditions in April. In Maharashtra, Gudi Padwa typically falls around the same period. The festive energy in the city is real and familiar. It is not Avurudu, but the season does not feel indifferent.
The honest challenge: you will miss Avurudu at home. There is no version of April 13 in Pune that fully replaces waking up in your family house at the nakath time. But you can build something meaningful here. And building it teaches you things that staying home never would.
For all the practical information on how Sri Lankan students apply to study in Maharashtra, including course options, admission documents, and the single-window portal, visit fn.mahacet.org.
FAQ
It requires intention, but it is very possible. Pune has South Asian grocery stores, a small but close Sri Lankan student community, and a culturally warm environment. Most students find the cultural adjustment easier than it would be in Europe or Australia.
Many gather in small groups to cook kiribath, observe nakath times by video call with family, and recreate the atmosphere of home as best they can. It becomes one of the most bonding events of the year among Sri Lankan students in Maharashtra.
"The kiribath will probably be lumpy again. Someone will probably cry a little. That is the full picture of studying abroad. It is hard, and it is worth it."
Avurudu is in 9 days. If you are thinking of joining us in Maharashtra, the first step is here.
Visit fn.mahacet.org
