Celebrations unlimited!!!

Last couple of weeks, have been exceptionally beautiful! With so many festivals to be celebrated in such short time, it has been like one long party. I love festivals! They provide lovely interludes from the daily grind and bring families and loved ones together. And when such festivals transcend religious, geographical and cultural boundaries and are celebrated through different communities with gaiety and devotion, there is a beautiful, infectious energy in the air! Interestingly, such interludes often introduce me to new spaces of thinking, a delightful wandering that I truly revel.

I am fortunate to have had a childhood that was rich with exposure to different religions and have grown up celebrating all possible festivals. With changing times, festivals and celebrations have undergone immense change! With each festival being celebrated on huge scale with veritable extravaganza and with commercial and political agendas having entered, the whole dynamics of celebrations have changed! Except the deity, everything looks the same - the sponsors' advertisements that scream for attention, the stalls at the pandals that offer you everything from an exclusive holiday package, home loan or insurance, to an attractive discount at the prestigious spa in town! Even the food stalls resemble the food courts at the shopping mall offering wide range of cuisines for your culinary delight!

I prefer festivals being celebrated in very traditional manner, sans the commercialization. But, these days, they have become means of merriment and socializing. It has been ages since I went for garba, ( I find it absurd doing garba with the traditional songs based on the tunes of Bollywood numbers that are atrocious and inappropriate for such religious occasions). At the Durga Puja last week, I was lucky to have glimpse of traditional dance form  "dhunuchi naach " and was blown over by the divine energy the
"dhakis" ( drummers) displayed while performing! With Saraswati Puja on Vijaya Dashami yesterday, this long party of  festivals would pause till Deepawali.

For me, festival time is also when there is no apparent reason for it. I celebrate when my family and friends are with me or when I am alone and enjoy being with myself. Celebration time for me is, when I come across some brilliant piece of art, meet some interesting person and have fantastic conversation, see a beautiful smile on the child's face across the road, or when I am touched by random act of kindness by a perfect stranger.Oh, the list is so long that I can't write it here. One life is too small to enjoy this beautiful world. I wonder, why do we really need any excuse to celebrate?