Feeling festive... OR NOT !!
It's Diwali eve. I come home from my workplace,cook meal for us, have dinner and lay down on the couch, looking forward to a holiday. Yes, you read that right. Tomorrow is just a day off for me. A break from office, a day I look forward to to catch some sleep and watch a few extra episodes of FRIENDS. I wonder where did all the excitement of celebration go ?? I also wonder if it's just me suffering from this disorder or are there others like me ??
There used to be a time when we eagerly waited for festivals. Right from New Year's picnic till 31st Night celebration, we would be busy round the year. Every year Holi celebration began weeks before with kids throwing water balloons at every passer-by. Raksha Bandhan meant searching for the perfect gift and rakhi as soon as the rakhi stalls came up in the locality.. New clothes had to be shopped for every Durga Puja. The 10 days long festivity always ended with a sad note on Dashmi evening when we had to pack our bags for school next day. Growing up in Delhi, Diwali indeed was a big deal for me.My entire family going to the market late at night, sometimes just for a stroll, cleaning and decorating home with work assigned to each member which we rarely changed in years, a single day festival usually got us engaged for a week or so.
Adulting has taken a toll on us. Slogging in the office for half of the day and spending a fraction of remaining half in the household chores, we rarely have time for ourselves during the weekdays. What we look forward to everyday is a Friday night when we have following two days off. We plan a lot many things for the weekend and ultimately end up sleeping and binge watching our favourite shows. We actually have started living for the weekend now a days , or rather any day that gives us a break from the monotonous routine.
Celebrations indeed are the best way to break the monotony. I believe, that's the basic reason for the existence of any festival. However, gradually we have stopped celebrating festivals. Its just another day off for us these days. We look forward to some more sleep and some more break from monotony, albeit without any participation. The traditional Diwali ki Safai has taken a backseat, stating the reason that we keep our house clean round the year,as if it wasn't so, earlier. Raksha Bandhan is spent in the office every year, after a quick ceremony early morning. Purchasing rakhi is a last minute affair where we don't even try selecting our favourite one. Holi again is limited to good food to some extent, because its very tiring getting off the colours from the body and we again have to follow the monotonous routine the next day. So why not better do something constructive ? A handful of us are interested in 31st night celebration because hey! even our client does so and therefore, getting late to office next day wouldn't be frowned upon.
Keeping aside the Festivals, if we look upon birthdays and anniversaries, they are also not far behind. If it falls on weekdays, we reach office with a heavy bag of Sweets, asking someone to drop a "Sweets at my desk" mail. The entire day is spent explaining others how you don't have any plans, knowing well you would be asking the same question on their birthday. Evening is followed by a cozy dinner at some fancy restaurant and that's how the special day ends. If you get to celebrate a birthday on a holiday, it again is a bane! The day is spent doing absolutely nothing and the day ends with the feeling of dejection.
Seeing the pitiful situation of our generation today, I don't know how and where did all the excitement go ?? The excitement for celebration of n number of festivals throughout the year. The excitement for working collectively as a family. The excitement for making special days larger than life !!! All the jubilation is limited to expressing on Social Media stating how festive or thankful or overjoyed we feel while celebrating an important day with many insignificant others.I don't know what the future holds for us, but its pretty clear that we might end up loners sooner than expected. It's Diwali eve and Vinod and I, both of us are sitting with our laptops,engaged in our work. That sums up my article...
There used to be a time when we eagerly waited for festivals. Right from New Year's picnic till 31st Night celebration, we would be busy round the year. Every year Holi celebration began weeks before with kids throwing water balloons at every passer-by. Raksha Bandhan meant searching for the perfect gift and rakhi as soon as the rakhi stalls came up in the locality.. New clothes had to be shopped for every Durga Puja. The 10 days long festivity always ended with a sad note on Dashmi evening when we had to pack our bags for school next day. Growing up in Delhi, Diwali indeed was a big deal for me.My entire family going to the market late at night, sometimes just for a stroll, cleaning and decorating home with work assigned to each member which we rarely changed in years, a single day festival usually got us engaged for a week or so.
Adulting has taken a toll on us. Slogging in the office for half of the day and spending a fraction of remaining half in the household chores, we rarely have time for ourselves during the weekdays. What we look forward to everyday is a Friday night when we have following two days off. We plan a lot many things for the weekend and ultimately end up sleeping and binge watching our favourite shows. We actually have started living for the weekend now a days , or rather any day that gives us a break from the monotonous routine.
Celebrations indeed are the best way to break the monotony. I believe, that's the basic reason for the existence of any festival. However, gradually we have stopped celebrating festivals. Its just another day off for us these days. We look forward to some more sleep and some more break from monotony, albeit without any participation. The traditional Diwali ki Safai has taken a backseat, stating the reason that we keep our house clean round the year,as if it wasn't so, earlier. Raksha Bandhan is spent in the office every year, after a quick ceremony early morning. Purchasing rakhi is a last minute affair where we don't even try selecting our favourite one. Holi again is limited to good food to some extent, because its very tiring getting off the colours from the body and we again have to follow the monotonous routine the next day. So why not better do something constructive ? A handful of us are interested in 31st night celebration because hey! even our client does so and therefore, getting late to office next day wouldn't be frowned upon.
Keeping aside the Festivals, if we look upon birthdays and anniversaries, they are also not far behind. If it falls on weekdays, we reach office with a heavy bag of Sweets, asking someone to drop a "Sweets at my desk" mail. The entire day is spent explaining others how you don't have any plans, knowing well you would be asking the same question on their birthday. Evening is followed by a cozy dinner at some fancy restaurant and that's how the special day ends. If you get to celebrate a birthday on a holiday, it again is a bane! The day is spent doing absolutely nothing and the day ends with the feeling of dejection.
Seeing the pitiful situation of our generation today, I don't know how and where did all the excitement go ?? The excitement for celebration of n number of festivals throughout the year. The excitement for working collectively as a family. The excitement for making special days larger than life !!! All the jubilation is limited to expressing on Social Media stating how festive or thankful or overjoyed we feel while celebrating an important day with many insignificant others.I don't know what the future holds for us, but its pretty clear that we might end up loners sooner than expected. It's Diwali eve and Vinod and I, both of us are sitting with our laptops,engaged in our work. That sums up my article...
Diwali or any other festival means a day off, no need to wake up early.. But with your parents around you feel the real festivity, the zeal seems to come back.. Atleast temporarily.. Festivities as priorities have taken a back seat and office work has taken the top most priority.. Ghar ghar ki kahaani..
ReplyDeleteAgreed... even if its not the office work, we are too lazy to do anything.. I wonder what are we going to do as parents...
DeleteThanks Manish :)
ReplyDelete