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Sunday 7 November 2010

Celebration

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 16; the sixteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.



One more Diwali this year.

I think, the craze diminishes with age, especially if you don’t have children to enjoy with, it is not like those Diwali days of yester years when we were kids.

This year it wore a subdued mood.

Best Diwali was celebrated during those days when mom was alive. It had a different meaning then. Mom would start cleaning the house fifteen days before the D-day, which would be followed by shopping for new clothes, then making sweets, distributing to family and friends and finally the prayers, with plenty of gifts exchanged, some of them recycled. There would be lots of crackers and fireworks, mud lamps were placed at every window sill in the house and balconies would be lit with colorful bulbs. We would have continuous stream of guests, and of course lots of phone calls from relatives who lived abroad.

But, after mom, nothing is same.

With 90% of my older relatives dead and gone, the few that are left, they live in their own world.

Cleaning is done by maids, sweets and savories purchased from the stores and shopping is just a norm. We are shopping all year round so this is just another day.

I walk downstairs to meet the kids in my building compound and they are bursting expensive rockets. ‘How much did you pay for this 30 seconds pleasure?” I ask their father as I see the rocket go up in the sky and burst into thousand spraklers "Don’t even mention, it burns our heart and our pocket” they say “We have paid through our nose” and their kids looked at them with crinkled nose trying to understand what we meant and I tell them “Beta, you don’t understand how difficult the times are now, wait for 20 years and you will understand”

The children continue to derive the pleasure of bursting more crackers, those bigger strings of 2000 noisy crackers and I pause for a longer time to complete my unfinished sentence.

I am proud of the blinking red-rose shaped bulbs, which runs parallel to string of colored bigger bulbs and then there is one more string of hundred tiny green bulbs running across my balcony grill in the zigzag fashion. I am elated each time I go to my balcony to admire them, and then suddenly...Oh No! It is raining heavily, wetting my extension cord. It never used to rain during Diwali . Global warming! Bah! It is darkness again.

I recieve many SMS's, people sending me the forwards with no originality or personal touch. I do the same. All my friends are on social media and they all wish me on Face-book. No postman arrives with a greeting card. (when they come for Diwali bakshis they have an embarrassed look) All of my NRI family is on a smart phone and they exchange virtual sweets, jokes and greetings, but nobody calls to wish…no warm voice I hear. Every body’ messages I read on line and smile…alone.

I am glad that I do have family and friends towards whom I can stretch and reach physically.

I eat, pray and love during Diwali for sometime with them, offline

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18 comments:

  1. :) it's a different world we live in these days.. enough said. good luck for batom and well, happy diwali to you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A Nice,touching post Pushpee- i don't even read the forwards that do the rounds on such occasions, for the simple reason that you've stated-there is no personal touch- it's like they do it just for the sake of doing it.
    Very well expressed.
    All the best for BAT! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is the same with me! Till mom was there every function we had a differnt meaning and different approach!! :)
    But now things almst changed and none f them s same!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel sad Pushpee, when it should not be as it is Diwali, but yes, life is like that...I feel sad coz ur mother is no longer around, and i feel sad how your people waste money on 20 secs of sheer happiness lighting firecrackers...

    Nice, thoughtful and poignant post!

    All the best!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The more things change,the more they remain the same-i know that this is somewhat in opposition to what you have said but then isnt it also true that our own celebrations at a younger age were markedly different from those of our forebears generations?
    Sure, things change and nothing remains the same. Yet,the basic human emotions and needs that underlie all such occasions remain intact and pristine.

    P.S.Hope i didnt go overboard with my blabber!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pushpee,
    That is a nice write. I liked especially the para where ppl just send SMSs or wish on Facebook, that is what life has come to.
    But then we always find means to celebrate dont we? :)

    Happy diwali to you

    ReplyDelete
  7. A very touching post and something that we could relate and perceive.Yes we have changed and so is the way of celebrating festivals. Originality and feel of celebrating festival isn't same either.thanks for sharing this post.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I had a good time reading your post.

    It was easy to understand... and appeared like a huge concoction of random but thoughts...

    thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice and simple. I liked the flow of your Post.
    Beautiful
    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
  10. well...hope you had a nice Diwali. ATB for BATOM

    ReplyDelete
  11. hmmm the TRUTH of our lives today :)
    thanks for sharing :)

    All the best :)
    Here is my celebration:
    Ms. Meduri- Celebrations

    ReplyDelete
  12. of course it is.. touching post...

    Good luck for BAT and do stop by, Someone Is Special - Celebrations

    --Someone Is Special--

    ReplyDelete
  13. Celebration though having a different meaning for all yet is an emotion enjoyed in the company of our loved and dear ones.
    Change always may not be for the good, but it is inevitable. Yet all one can do is get accustomed to the new tradition as after all even hey share the same emotion.A simple and a great post.
    All the best for BAT.:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank u Saro...yes its a different world and high time we realized and accepted that, thank u for ur visit :)

    Thank u Jaspreet//me hate fwds too..sucha waste of time
    :)

    yeah Shruti..life changes after the ppl who matter are no more in your life, thank u for ur visit :)


    @Amity, it is indeed a sheer waste of money these fireworks, but if spent in moderation it can be fun too specially for kids
    thanks for ur visit

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank u Singh..no u didn't go overboard..nice reading ur thoughts thank u :))

    @Shah..every with SMS and social networks the celebrations have become more frequent and interactive...thank u for ur visit to my blog :))

    @Lost in thought..thank u :)

    @Pratibha..thank you :))

    ReplyDelete
  16. @Kshiji..thank u :))
    @Tikuli Thank u :))
    @Swayambu Thank u :))
    @Meduri Thank u :))
    @Someone is special thank u :))
    @Maverick Thank u :))

    ReplyDelete
  17. Very true revelation !! times have changed and so has the definition of celebrations too !!
    But in the end all that matters is that the spirit of celebrations must not be lost.
    All the best.

    ReplyDelete

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