Bliss is the time when a big festival’s around the corner. And India being a country where every other day is festival, for some community or the other, has enough to celebrate. And October sometimes has double dhamaaka. Literally, since we have two big festivals this year. Navarathri and Diwali. I am not really sure if I can decide which one is my favourite or may be I can. I think it’s Diwali, the festival of lights. We’ll come back to that in a bit.
The first one to come is Navarathri. This festival literally takes your breath away ’cause this one is celebrated in different ways in different parts of India. For Gujaratis, it’s the dandiya time (This was mentioned and featured in seventymm) This is so colorful that it just makes you want to pick those two sticks and join the group and dance the night away. Wanna see? Here’s a small illustration. Then there’s also the garbha. Ain’t it colorful and nice? This reminds me of the song from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Doli Tharo…
And how about the unsurpassable Durga Pooja in Calcutta? Amazing! Bengalooru shows this true blue Bengali spirit in the Bengali Association in Ulsoor. One must visit this place. And the food? Ahem, lets not talk about it right now, since one is on a serious weight-loss program!
Even in down South there are different ways of celebrating it, something really worth mentioning is the one celebrated in Mysore Dasara procession. This was started by the Maharaja of Mysore I suppose. Whatever the history this such a treat to see that people from all over the world come here just to have a look at this. Especially the Palace which is lit all the nine days. This is how Mysore would look during Navarathri. I wish the picture was a bit more clearer. But that big mass of light that you’re seeing is the Mysore Palace which is lit sepcially during the Dasara.
Tamilnadu has it’s own special way of celebrating this festival. With dolls. They have special doll arrangements which depicts stories. Earlier it used to be about the epics now it’s somewhat changed and has adapted to the modern times while retaining the tradition.
Now that’s what I like about festivals, traditions. Traditions that most of us have probably left behind and these festivals bring it back. Something which I’ve particularly looked forward to always. There’s something about these traditions that city dwellers like me find fascinating. Something that takes us back to our roots. Traditions, which are our identity. More on Diwali will be posted, so watch this column…
