I am a housewife and apart from Holi and Diwali we also celebrate other 100 of festivals. In young days festivals always meant vacations and fun. No school and college only play mode with relatives and neighbours with lots of home cooked munching food. But now as I am a grown up I feel they are nothing more than bringing me loads of work and keeping me on toes.
Let’s begin from first festival i.e. Mahashivratri followed by Pongal. Few things are by default like keeping fast and worshiping lord shiva as it is the only day to meet him.
HOLI which is celebrated by initially turning into a halwai; Gujiya, mathri, plenty of sweets and papad are cooked at home. When this ends call every damn relative and wish them which is followed by Pooja. Playing Holi in itself is a tiring task which should be optional to individuals not mandatory for a “bahu”.
Hangover of Holi is not yet over and here arrives Gangaur and Navratri.
15 days of gangaur!! Please lord save me! Make effigies of god, Pooja, fast, immersion and look as a bride every time. Blimey!!
You feel bit relaxed but festivals like basoda, varmaavas, aamla jayanti, chauths and in total somewhat 35 never heard festivals pops up before Diwali and month I love hate ‘October’.
October should be banned in India though I m born in same month. But to my dismay this is most exhausting month of the year. Navratri, Dusshera, karwachauth and then Diwali. I truly believe media is also responsible for these sumptuous festivals. Where in Ekta Kapoor shows ladies are donning heavy jewellery and sarees. Draping the 6 inches saree is bounding yourself where work becomes more time consuming because saree itself needs half of the attention.
Diwali is worst among all. Why in the world this festival is celebrated for 5 days. Every mother suffers from OCD. House is cleaned in a manner as we bring mud daily. I feel there is a competition in every household like I did clean my house better than you. Cow is auspicious so is dung! Goverdhan and bhai dooj are two important brothers of Diwali where in goverdhan you end up cooking 56 Bhog. Draining yourself from morning 5 a.m to p.m. It is more of a wedding celebration even that is better you hire people for help. And in India relatives can never be left behind.
I am not offending any religious sentiments but why can’t we celebrate festivals in vacation mode. Every ritual has to be fulfilled with perfection. In childhood things are intriguing but now they are more of irritating to me. Festivals should be celebrated as to enjoy and relax not to blindly follow a religion and footsteps of others. In today’s hectic schedule vacations in these form are bestowed by government to us, so please turn the table round and let your kids free. Let them travel and enjoy rather than grilling.