This Diwali

This was my first diwali away from home , so was a little sad about the fact as diwali used to mean a lot of activities for me like decorating home , firing crackers , having lots of sweets , then dancing till late in night . Vow !! , but I was going to miss everything this time , these thoughts were making me sad. I got relieved a little bit when came to know that my sister is coming to town to celebrate diwali with me , chalo me , my sis and my dear roomy this is not going to be that bad after all . but the things were actually more interesting than had been ever before on any diwali . Before the day of diwali there is tradition of Asian Paints to have a traditional day in the office, when all girls and guys come in traditional wear. For the same I had got the sarees couriered from the home also,
The day whole office was looking really colorfull and everyone was looking nicer than the usual, the enthusiasm for the occasion could be felt in the air . And then the photo session took place, people gave their best poses possible and whole systems department was standing together like a family. That was really a wonderful scene, everyone was looking joyous and in a festive mood.
Well this was not the end; also the best dressed girl and best dressed guy were chosen and were given the gifts also. I was more happy as my roomy only won the title, so the choclates were finally coming home only :) . The following day my sister arrived and we three went for shopping for diwali , this time we bought colors to prepare rangoli also , as being the speciality of maharashtra , I think without this my diwali in maharashtra would not have been memorable . Also we bought some flowers for our flat and diyas(lamps). We cleaned the home and decorated it ( a little bit though ), and in evening we again went out for a stroll in market fully dressed as were in full mood of diwali , we just had a stroll bought few things and came back home . We lit diyas in the evening and also prepared the rangoli. Well that was quite a fun as none of us had ever prepared the rangoli in life before , so we just put some colors here and there and made the simplest design possible .That was looking quite decent though not as pretty as other rangolis on our floor but hey please !!, what else do you expect from a novice , we already ran out of colors and came to know that our estimate of colors that we will be needing was very less , but then also we managed in less colors , less skills and prepared a nice looking rangoli , isn’t it appreciable ?? . And finally we prayed to God and had a blast together . When finally I sat in silence I just thought what is that I missed , actually nothing, just this much came to my mind , I enjoyed like every other year rather to be frank in some ways much more than usual. . For three of us the festival was really colorful, this time we three were family, so I actually never got rid of family, neither of us did. Hmm!! May be this is what a festival means to be joyous and spread the same all around you, may be it is above all the show off that we normally try to do on festivals. Joys never depend on the people around you, in what conditions you are, they only depend on you attitude, if you want to stay happy or not, if you want to enjoy nothing can stop you from enjoying

Our Rituals , Our Shackles ??

Today I am going to write about some subject which does not have any relevance with me own but it’s some thing to do with people who are very near to me. I am going to mention about fasts, today I read in one of the articles in news paper calling fasts or vrats as the shackles of our beliefs and rituals tied by our ancestors carried by us till date . Well , this actually made me think about it are the fasts really so called shackles for us, are the rituals have bound us to starve ourselves in a hope to fulfill our wishes .

Hmm !! may be !!, at first I also agreed with these people and thought that actually there are no certain reasons behind why we fast except few stories and causes that we listen on the day of fasts and vrats . But that following night only
( Karvachauth night ) I called my mom to ask about her health as she might had fast for the whole day and asked her if she is alright and beyond my all expectations she was sounding much more than alright , she said yaa , we just had food . you know your father too tried to not to have anything for whole day but as usual he could stay hungry , so in market he had something but quite honestly called me and told "hey !! I am really sorry, could not stay hungry , I promise I tried my best" and after that my mom laughed her life out, also she told about the gift which papa bought for her as a karvachauth ritual .My mom fasted whole day, she did not have any thing since morning but that hunger was nothing in front of all these joys that she found in all small things. As in this was not the first time papa had bought some thing for mom or ate outside, but nothing could make her as happy as she was this time.
After talking to her something forced me to think that may this is the main purpose of festivals of rituals, to keep people together, to give them a chance of showing their loved ones that they care for them. In teej , when women need to fast and they get gifts from their mother’s place called mayka, the simple bangles make them so happy , all women of the house gather and have food together , they talk chat and do all sort of gossips, is this is not the purpose of this festival to bring all these long separated people together , to give them a reason to talk to each other .
May be our ancestors knew about the approaching fast life and the consequences thereafter. May be they knew that people won’t have time to even wait for some time and say hi to each other, so then why not make some occasions that will force them all to come together and talk and take care of each other. I am not saying that care is not there, it is there, love is there, concern is there but what is not there is time and realization to express it all. This is what makes life monotonous and people feel alone even after having every one around them. When all this is real part of our life , the festivals or our so called shackles give us a chance to keep our busy life style on side and think about others for once . Shackles yups may be, but no to bind rather to tie you up, after all human is a social animal and love has got no virtue until and unless expressed