The Indian civilization is an amalgam of numerous cultures. ‘Way of living’—through which one’s cultural root is known—has given this festival many dimensions. A tourist starting his trip from Tamil Nadu will start his day with Pongal and end in Punjab experiencing Lori. Similarly, if you start your trip from the northeast with sweet coconut balls, you would satiate your dinner with sesame-jaggery-rich laddus in the western part of the subcontinent. Not only in delicacies, the festival is pivotal in terms of its astronomical and cultural aspects.
The crux:
The wintry days are backstage, and the longer days are back herewith. Hence, it’s one of the main auspicious days. May we too shred the inactive elements in our life and throttle the engine of our life once again. People savor til-gud (sesame-jaggery) laddus this day and share with their loved ones, fabricating a newer initiative every year to weave bonds of happiness and shared emotions and eradicating the knots of bitterness if any would have crept in. Philosophically, it’s essential for us to have the sweetness of jaggery within us along with the nutrition of sesame for a good mental-spiritual well-being.
The alternative for this festival as we move more towards Gujarat can be suggested as a ‘festival of kites’ without a rethink. The utter excitation amongst the masses for whirling one’s kite high in the air is what often becomes a big competition for some the whole day long. The number of kites being eliminated has as much importance as runs in a cricket match. A person’s true existence remains a bliss only when his or her roots are bound to the thread of his/her mentor.
The eternal thought:
Festivals are often accompanied by a deeper message for the society, for our personal development, and for reviving the fry-old lifestyle into a harmonious one. The need is only for having a specified vision towards life at large.
