Thursday, January 13, 2011

Of Festivals and Families

Nostalgia is at an all time high. Its Lohri today and here I am, stuck at work with no plans whatsoever to celebrate the festival. And being in Singapore doesn’t help my cause you see.

Childhood memories come flooding back as I am trying to get some work done. The mind is refusing to concentrate. I feel myself transported to the cold winter evenings of Ranchi. Lohri each year was celebrated with as much gusto and enthusiasm. The entire family would come together to dance and sing around the bonfire. There was yummy traditional food. And sweets. Revari and Popcorns which were then generously thrown in the fire.   A feeling of happiness and festivity all around. Lots of laughter and some gossips. Traditional songs, dance and the some money imparted by elders to the ones younger to them. So not only did we have fun but we also came out richer.

Lohri for me was an occasion, like many others, when my entire family would be together. This was in fact the best part of my growing up years. The fondness my entire family had for celebrations and festivals. Right from childhood we saw all festivals being celebrated together and with a lot of heart and soul being put in it. Not just festivals but each and every occasion, like birthdays, anniversaries, New Year and even children’s day meant that the whole gang would be together, eating and having fun! And it helped that we were a lot of us in the same town. We were what can easily symbolize "the nice big fat Indian family."

And now living so far away from home, I can’t even begin to express how much I miss it. Thankfully I have the memories.

You can go here and read more about this festival - http://www.lohrifestival.org
Leaving you with the lyrics of this traditional Lohri song – Sunder munderiye hoye, tera kaun vichara hoye,dulla bhatti wala hoye,dulle di dhi wihaai hoye,sher shakar paare hoye!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Wish you a very happy lohri! :)
Cheer up di.. There's no place for sadness.. :D

Prathima said...

Hey Iya,

Wish you a very happy lohri..
I know how it feels to be away from family especially during festivals.
How about you celebrating it with your hubby:)

Ekta said...

Happy Lohri Iya dear!

R said...

blog hopped to yours...living away from india makes me feel all the more nostalgic....could really identify with your post

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Deeps said...

Such a beautiful post, filled with nostalgia, Iya. I could feel myself reminiscing about my Delhi days too when the whole neighbourhood used to gather around the bonfire and dance and make merry. Ah how I remember munching on to the moongfalis and popcorns and then throwing somein the fire.

Lovely post :)

roop said...

aww touching.

we went to gurdwara on lohri. they had a teeny weeny bonfire outside but no one sang anything! just stood around, throwing til in the fire :(

i missed india terribly.

Iya said...

Thank you all! festivals do that to me. all nostalgic and weepy!