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Eid in Yusufpur
Guess what guys?? My dad is taking me to his village for Eid this year. I am so excited that my tummy is all tied up in knots and I can hardly wait to get there. I haven’t yet enjoyed Eid the way papa says he used to when he was small. Well, I am hoping to do so this time. Let me start with the village first, the way my dad describes it. Yusufpur is a sleepy village in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh....
The Story of Diwali
Deepavali or Diwali as it has come to be known as, means many things to many people. It means holidays from school, shopping expeditions for clothes, sweets, gifts and crackers to children. To the office-goer it means an annual bonus that can make all this happen. To the businessman Diwali means brisk business just as to the clay potter, Diwali is the occasion of the year when the bulk of his sales are made. Diwali has a special significance for the trading communities of India who usher in their new year and new accounting books (‘bahi khata’) during this time....
The Business of Festivals
What is special about Durga Puja is that it’s a community celebration. In Calcutta, specially, almost every neighbourhood has a Puja Committee to organise the Puja in their locality, every year. Come September and the Committee members begin to meet at each other’s houses and chalk out plans for grand celebrations over endless rounds of cha(tea) and adda (discussion). Anyone can qualify – all one needs is boundless enthusiasm. These people set up the pandal or the tents that house the festivities....
Why Mother's Day?
Why have a particular day to tell your mother that you love her and respect her, some of us might ask. Why indeed? We could do that everyday. Right. We could. But, do we? So, is it such a bad idea to have a day to honour mothers? After all, we have specific days to honour freedom fighters, leaders or other heroes. And mothers are no less than heroes, considering the amount of effort they put into making their children’s lives a bit more easy and happier....
Fun'tastic Ramlila, Dandiya, Jatra
Whether it is a pesky 11-year-old Dashrath struggling to maintain his flowing beard during the enactment of the Ramayana in a street Ramlila, or handsome young artistes enacting Rama and Sita on a professional stage, the feeling is the same for the viewers. They know the story of Sita and Ram by heart, but every year they wait with bated breath for yet another performance of the Ramayana in performances across the country, and specially in northern India....
Makar Sankranti
The colourful kite-flying festival of Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan, which falls on January 14 each year, marks the end of a long winter and the return of the sun to the northern hemisphere. Hence the name Uttarayan. According to Hindu astronomy, it is on this holiest day in the Hindu calendar, that the sun enters the zodiac of Makara or Capricorn, heralding the northern journey of the sun. The day is also of special significance, because on this day, the day and night are of equal hours....
Holi – The Colour of Fun is Red, Blue, Green
Holi or the festival of colours, is celebrated with great enthusiasm in India, and by the Indian communities settled abroad. It is a time when the young and old alike, are in a mood to make merry. The most important aspect of this festival is its informal nature. Though a Hindu festival, it is played by Indians from all communities – especially in the metropolitan cities of India, where people from all over the country have come and settled....
Janamashtmi – The Day Krishna was Born
Janamashtmi, or the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna — the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu — is celebrated with traditional gaiety and fervour all over India. It falls on the eighth day of the waning moon in the month of Shravan in August/ September. Lord Krishna is believed to have been born at midnight on this day. The day is marked by fasting, feasting, dancing and singing hymns and prayers. Lord Vishnu is invoked in his human incarnation as Krishna on his birth anniversary....
Raksha Bandhan
Excerpts from the book “Festivals of India” Sravani, the sacred thread changing ceremony, and Raksha Bandhan are celebrated on the full moon day of the month of shravan (June-July) and are often regarded as two names for the same festival. This is not strictly true because Sravani is specifically a Brahmin festival referred to in the sacred Sanskrit texts as Rishi Tarpan or Upa Karma. It is a very ancient Vedic festival and even today is regarded as important in Bengal, Orissa, southern India, Gujarat and some other states....
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