A Land of Festivities! :)





"Ma, What is a festival?" - asked a eleven year old boy to his mother as she finished puting rangoli.

She looked at him with warm eyes and said - "Festival means Celebration".

Son looked at his mother and asked - "What is celebrated?"

She smiles at him and says "Different things"

He asks her - "What different things?"

She makes him sit next to her and asks him - "Pongal,Diwali,Holi etc"

He immediately asks - "Christmas?"

She looks at him bewildered. Then immediately smiles and nods her head saying - "Yes, Christmas too".

He again asks - "Then Eid?Why don't we celebrate it? Anwar celebrates!"

She looks at him lovingly and tells - "We celebrate Eid too by wishing Anwar and his family and many others"

But he is not convinced - "Why doesn't Anwar celebrate diwali?"

She replies - "Anwar also celebrates holi by playing wth colors and diwali by bursting crackers along with us. Everyone celebrates everything, my son."

He thinks for a moment and asks - "But why do we celebrate all this?"

She looks at him and smiles at his infinite Why questions.
She replies - "Beta, Each festival has its own significance. Anwar is muslim. Joseph is Christian and You are Hindu. Each of these religions have a set of celebrations based on some reason."







He stares at her.

She smiles and gives him a sweet.

He asks - "Why different festivals for all 3 of us"

She patiently replies - "Because you are born in different families with different religions".

He asks - "What different festivals, Anwar celebrates?"

She replies - "Beta, he celebrates Bakriid,Eid-ul-fitr, Muharram etc. Each of them have significance in their religion. For example - Bakriid is a day celebrated for sacrifices, Eid-ul-fitr is for the last day of Ramzaan which is an auspicious month in Muslim Calendar. They have rituals for these festivals and for others like this.

"Joseph celebrates Christmas,Birth of Jesus Christ.Easter, feast of Resurrection ie Jesus returns back to life. Good Friday is to observe the death of Jesus."

"We celebrate various festivals. Among us also, people have different ways to celebrate different festivals". For Example - Diwali is festival of lights, Holi is festival of colrs, Rakshabandhan is festival for siblings. Durga Pooja/Navrathri is for Goddess Durga. Pongal is celebrated in South during harvesting season. Many more festivals like these are celebrated in various parts of India."

He keeps staring at her and shrugs.

She smiles at him and tells him - "As you grow up you will understand. Keep listening to stories what your grand parents tell"

He snatches another sweet from her and starts running towards the door saying - "Google is there na :P"

She could hear him shouting Anwar's name to play.

She walks into her room and hears the news on in TV. Reports on Bomb blast by terrorist. Reports on honor killing. Reports on communal tensions at some place.
She thinks back at what she told her son.Despite all this still we Indians celebrate everything with each other!

She hears a sound outside. Cracker bursting has started again! She gets prepared to distribute Diwali sweets in her neighbourhood starting with Joseph and Anwar's house!


India is a diverse land. A land of Unity.
Truly, A Land of Festivities!
---------------------------------------------------------
P.S - this is post written for a competition is internal blog
P.P.S - If we start reading about the different festivals, you will be amazed by the significance of each and every one of them and the belief with which they are celebrated. If you want to know and don't know yet, Go and google ;) Else ask elders :D

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