THEN VS NOW PART 2

Hey guys wassuppppp? I'm back with PART 2 of the series THEN VS NOW!! This one will talk about HOW FESTIVALS WERE CELEBRATED BEFORE, AND HOW THEY ARE NOW. 

I think you remember how you celebrated Diwali a few months ago... But do you remember how it was celebrated a few decades ago? Well, you can't REMEMBER cause, you probably DON'T KNOW. Nor do I, but one thing i know for sure, is that- it was very different all those years ago. So, let's begin! (Note- I'll be talking about Hindu festivals, because I don't have enough information for festivals of other religions and I don't want to offend anyone. And also, I'm not POINTING fingers, I'm just showing the differences and i am not trying to say EVERYONE does, i am just speaking out of personal experience with a few) And I'm mostly referring to the 1980s to 1990s when I'm talking about THEN.

1) WISHING

Did you know? In the olden times, people used to go from house to house or call their relatives/neighbors to wish them. In these days? Just forward them a whatsapp message, and you're done! No other work to be done. 😓

2) FOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDD

In the olden times, festivals were one of the ONLY times people had a lot of VARITIES of food. Now? We have it like EVERY WEEK. You wanna eat pulihora/puliogre? (tamarind rice) Wait till the next festival. Puran poli? Next pooja/festival. The Chhappan Bhog made for Shree krishna on Janmashtami you get as prasadam? Once a year again! Now, you just order it from Swiggy or Zomato whenever you feel like eating it. What has this changed? You dont know oh-oh, that EXCITEMENT, that EAGERNESS to eat those special foods you get so rarely is gone. Now it's just.....SOME food for you.  

3) NEW CLOTHES AND OTHER GIFTS

My mother once told me, that they got new clothes, new toys and new books on either their birthdays, or on diwali. And I was like-   

Turns out, it was the truth.... 

This also has snatched away the eagerness and excitement. Do some of you remember when you used to impatiently wait for the money your relatives gave you? When you aren't meeting up with your family, such things don't happen at all. This might not be applicable or relatable to all, but for most, yes. 

4) CELEBRATIONS

This is probably the thing I am most underwhelmed about in this whole list. These days, most people are celebrating festivals with GREAT GRANDEUR, festivals, for some people have become a means to show their riches. Sometimes, many people are called, and a few people don't even interact. And sometimes, they don't even follow ALL the rituals....... But, in the olden times, most rituals were followed, and even though many people were called, "atithi devo bhava" was followed, which means GUEST IS EQUIVALENT TO GOD. The hosts of the festival celebration interacted, served and talked with the guests invited. It was a wonderful place to catch up with old friends, to perform pujas and aartis together, cook food together, eat prasadams together (my favourite part. I used to wait DESPERATELY for the prasadams 🤭) enjoy the CELEBRATIONS shining through the city with a little funk and soul and so so much more, but the most important thing? It was done TOGETHER. It was done JESTING around. It was done with BHAKTI or  DEVOTION, with AFFECTION, and most of all, with LOVE. Now, i just sometimes feel that in some places, that magic, that love is near to nonexistent....... 

But to the ones who try to keep the traditions and the old ways ALIVE, Its wonderful when you do that 💝 

Because when you talk a walk around your society to see multicoloured lights adorned on the balconies, painting and lighting diyas together, girls in their ghagras and boys in their kurtas, lighting firecrackers together, the eldest of the families doing the pooja, the children clapping their hands in perfect sync to their mother's/grandmother's bhajans and eating the prasad together and not feeling shy to ask for more laddoos, you will understand Diwali is not JUST a festival, it is an EMOTION. 

(My friend, abhi helped me with this :D)

When you see small footprints on the ground made of rice flour, your Bala-Gopala on that little jhoola, you are rocking his jhoola with that thread, singing krishnashtakam with your family, watching the bhaiyyas and didis trying the matki-fodo challenge to get some makhan, sitting with your cousins around your naani/daadi and listening to her recite Shree Kanhaiya's Bal leela, you will understand that Janmashtami is not JUST a festival, its an EMOTION. 

When you and your friends get ready in matching chaniya-cholis, search for hours for matching oxodised chudiyan, maang-tika, payal, rings and jhumke,  ask the uncle to play sanedo and do garba and dandiya with your friends, observe the elders doing durga pooja and giving you prasad, you will understand that Navratri is not JUST a festival, its an EMOTION.

Yes, change is inevitable. Yes, change plays a huge part in our lives. And yes, we do adapt to change. But, there are a few things where you don't need to CHANGE. Where you need to stand AGAINST it and keep it ALIVE. Traditions are such things. Traditions are not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire (amish tripathi's quote hehe) No matter how much you modernize, there should be a part of you which is perpetually connected to your ROOTS, to your TRADITION. Never apologize for that! By the way, shoutout to my mom, who always makes me follow traditions, MAKES ME KNOW THINGS ABOUT MY CULTURE, and has always told me and advised my friends that even though, we have adopted a foreign language as our comfortable, daily language, we should be PROUD whatever our culture is, we should try to follow it, and do whatever part we can to do it. I can CONFIDENTLY say, I AM TRYING, I AM PROUD TO BE BORN INTO THIS CULTURE, AND I WILL BE GLAD TO KEEP FOLLOWING IT. No matter what people's culture is, my mom taught me to respect them all, and I CAN CONFIDENTLY SAY THAT AM TRYING MY LEVEL BEST TO DO THAT. So guys, I IMPLORE YOU ALL, try to stay connected to your roots, and spread awareness about this. 

Signing off, 

Jhanvi Pendyala