Have our festivals lost their depth and beautyIJ Have they become market-driven and market-orientedIJ Do they have an emotional connection with our soulsIJ These and many similar questions often crowd my mind and make me wonder whether the feelings which festivals evoked when we were children have been lost because we have got on in years or because of the changing values in our societyIJ
The answer perhaps lies somewhere in between the two. Emotions as we experience them in our younger years have a purity and intensity which is taken away from them by passing years. And some of the sincerity is always lessened due to the growing commercialisation and consumerism.
Today is Raksha Bandhan, which has more to do with emotional ties than perhaps any other of our festivals. A festival which arrives in the middle of heavy rains, adding colour and richness to the monsoon season and bringing a touch of joy in our routine, fast-paced lives. Whether a brother and sister can meet personally or not on this occasion, at least they are brought together emotionally and think of each other and of their shared childhood.
On this day, a host of childhood memories come back to me, of a time when Raksha Bandhan was the most important celebration in our joint family of five brothers, their wives and children besides our kind paternal grandmother who was the uncrowned queen of that little empire. For some years as a child I had the good fortune to live with this family where we never differentiated between our siblings and our cousins. In fact, we hardly knew the distinction. With the result that on Rakhi, I would buy many a coloured thread – one for my brother and many more for my cousins. Four sons of my four paternal uncles and three sons of my three paternal aunts who would come to our place to celebrate the festival.
It was indeed a grand celebration which was awaited by us all year long. The variety of rakhis available in the market was a far cry from what is available now. Simple coloured threads woven with gold and silver threads were the most popular alongwith layers of little sponge pieces stitched together and topped by a plastic flower. But we were more than happy with these and spent more time in preparing dishes like rice-kheer, urad vadas, pooris, halwa and a variety of goodies. In fact, we thought we were helping our mothers make them. Had we not helped, they would make them in half the time!
There was great excitement the evening before and we would hardly get any sleep. It would usually be a rainy day on Rakhi (as is the case even now). After the ceremony of tying the rakhis, we would all eat together, laugh and talk and enjoy ourselves thoroughly. It was an enjoyment that came from a feeling of togetherness and closeness and not from the various gadgets which we seem to need to enjoy ourselves today.We never had heard of shopping malls or the internet or mobile phones. We had not even seen them in our dreams. But we were truly happy. Giddy with happiness!
later in the afternoon, all of us kids would go to the nearby park where we would play on swings and also gather wild mushrooms, resembling little umbrellas, and take them home. Granny would scold us and say that some of these were poisonous. Rakhi was a complete fun day and we could do as we pleased. There were gifts exchanged –small boxes of chocolate or dolls that opened and closed their glassy eyes, indoor games like table badminton or Scrabble, or comic books and story books. Somehow, over the years, I have never been able to experience that kind of emotion. I am sure it had a lot to do with being a child. At the same time, I believe that our love for material things has made our emotions fade. Our relationships have paled before the false values that we are surrounded by.
Come, let us go back to the world where we could feel strongly for each other without considering any complicated aspects of life. Where love between a brother and sister was tender and sweet, not overshadowed by relationships which we are sometimes burdened with. let us, for a day, become children again.