Its a season of festivities.. but sadly bangalore is not looking so festive.. of the 3 cities i have been at, delhi is the most festive at this time of the year.. 2nd bombay and bangalore the least...
I love this season.. i was brought up in delhi... so this season was always special.. dusshera and then diwali.. then guru nank jayanti and then christmas and finally new year!!!! These 2-3 months were the most fun months in the entire year... in our colony there used to be ramlila .. where all guys used to participate (even as girls)... and obviously they would forget the dialogue, their clothes would come off.. and to give a contemporary feel, they would show courtesans dancing to hindi numbers in raavan's court!!!!!!! lol!! They always used to do arti of ram and sita at the end of every day's episode .. for the arti they used to play the song "om jai jagadish" but one day they inserted "Ashiqui"'s tape and we saw hanuman doing arti with the song "main duniya bula doonga" playing in the background... but then the ramlila was memorable because of all this only.. and in delhi, you would find these put up at every nook and cranny!!!!
And of course there would be these effigies (of raavan, meghnaath and kumbhkaran) put up in every park.. but it used to be very crowded.. so i have actually seen it only a couple of times.. once on some random person 's terrace.. but you could always hear it.. no matter what part of delhi you are in..
All the streets would be lit up.. all the shops would be lit.. these stalls (sweets and crackers) would come up on every street... i used to love it!!!! And in delhi, the day diwali is over, is when winter officially starts.. and it used to be chilly... !!!!
Malayalees do not celebrate diwali.. there is no concept of diwali there!! But since we were in delhi, we always used to celebrate it!!! In the run up to diwali, mom would make laddus.. we would also buy packs of sweets to give to everyone.. the entire house would be spruced up.. and we would wear traditional Indian clothes... the neighbours / friends used to turn up bearign sweets.. and we cuold not give them sweets then and there.. we would have to go to their house to give sweets!!!! And then evereyone in the family would light diyas together!!!! A beautiful festival.. meant for families.. for togetherness....
In bombay, diwali is not celebrated as much in delhi.. but still at work, we used to wear festive clothes.. as in everyone would be dressed up to the nines!!!!! And the working day before diwali, there were these competitions .. basically no work used to happen...
Here dusshera came and went.. nothing much happened.. i worry diwali will also come and go like this ... but i have decided.. i will celebrate.. like i usually do.. i also plan to make laddus but lets see!!! Its not very festive here.. right now at least!!!! Its depressing.. hvae decided will wear a sari to work for diwali.. i will definitely be festive, come what may!!!!
And then finally christmas.. which i have started celebrating now.. last year we went to Mount Mary church.. so beautiful it was.. the entire street.. i also had a small christmas tree at my place.. which i intend to have even now!!!! And finally new year.. we used to buy peanuts and popcorn.. and sit in front of the TV , cozy in our rajais, and watch these new yr shows .. at that time there were only 1 or 2 shows that used to come.. and all of us used to enjoy it.. i remember sharon prabakar, udit narayan singing some songs, then jaspal bhatti's show etc!!!!
Those were the days!!! Is it any wonder why i love this season!!!! I will remain festive this year too... no matter what...(i know i said the same thing a few lines back but no harm in reiterating)
2 comments:
that post reads like an essay on festivals from schooltime! :) very honest!
i totally agree though! we wanted ved to have a start on teh festivities before we left delhi, soeven though pushkar was feeling extremely under the weather that day, i took the little one to watch ravan burn! well, it was a tiny little ravan built up by the colony kids (when i used to live there, they always used to have a HUGE ravan and full ramlila running all 10 days etc). nothing this time though. still, he say the tiny ravan burn and even went to the puja pandal within the colony! he didn't seem very bothered by the racket at all! loved all the bheed-bhaad and hullaa! my boy's a festival lover already!! :)
diwali is going to be a terrible time for us here! i need to get some candles for the house this weekend! unless ofcourse, people have some objection about it being a fire hazard! europe and its crazy rules - really!
Festivals make so much more sense when you are older!!!!Or rather maybe you start valuing it more..
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