Celebrate Your Faith...

Its that time of the year again when most of India gears up for celebrating the 10 days of Navratri..Joyous dancing and fasting in Gujarat, where the nights come alive with the rythms of garba and dandiya.At the same time West Bengal welcomes Ma Durga and her children amidst her for six days and the entire state dances to the dhaki’s beat..What does it all mean to our generation? Is it really the rituals that we wait for with anticipation or is it just the fun and frolick..I guess its neither..

Festivals to me and my peers are more about social bonding..about coming together of generations, about revisiting old memories, about dressing up in fineries and pandal hopping..laughter, food gossip and the entire jing bang of festivity infused enthusiasm.I can confidently say for myself that the rituals do not interest me as much as the emotion of those days…I do not believe that God has to be appeased..but definitely the faith needs to be celebrated.

The faith that there is a power beyond understanding and reason..the faith that truth and goodness will ultimately prevail and also, however dark the night..it will eventually pass..is what makes us go through our daily grind. This faith cannot be a void, it needs a form that will endear it to us..what better image than that of a mother..for a country which is primarily nurtured by its farming soil.?

So the Goddess descends upon us for a few glorious days and is welcomed by all..the entire nation culminates into a melting point of culture and creativity. what better offering to the goddess than the best of our efforts. Children and adults alike in a riot of colours fill up the streets with gaiety, the aroma of food mixes with the scent of incense, flowers and sandal filling up our senses. For those few days we forget our sorrows and personal tribulations and join every other being in celebrating the Goddess amidst us.

There is nothing religious or ritualistic about this joy…It is the joyous acknowledgement of a deep rooted faith that tomorrow will be as good or even better than what today is or yesterday has been.