Navratri

Now I am not going to write about the reasons for the celebration of this festival, it's best to check it out on wikipedia.

So when we were kids, my sister and I loved, loved this festival, it meant no school and a week of fun. When we were living in Ranchi, my Aunt used to live in a nearby city and they had the most awesome Durga Pooja celebrations, so my sister and I would go off and stay with my cousins and aunt there. The pooja pandal was right infront of their house and my Aunt and Uncle's friends were big time involved in this, so naturally my sister and I got a lot of special privileges. When we were small, the significance of the holidays was the food, the chance to spend time with our cousins, who by the way pampered us a lot, since we were so young and didn't have a brother of our own, so they thought of us as their little sisters who needed to be shown a good time. The pooja prasad was just the most scrumptious khichdi one had ever eaten, my sister more than me was crazy about it. On the eight or ninth day of the festival, some our friends and relatives would invite my sister and me over for brunch and treat us to some very delicious poori-halwa-chane.

Then on the 10th day, we'd go with the procession to immerse the idols in a river. and then in the evening go for the fireworks.

so this was then..now that i am myself all grown and capable of observing the festivals as my parents celebrated them, i decided to go all out this season. So this time on navratri I fasted all 8 days. when i say fast, it means i ate the specified food for such fasts, it's complicated to explain so i'll refrain :D

And then on the eighth day, i had to give food to kanya(little girls). Now my niece and my friend ART live far for me to meet them first thing in the morning on a weekday, it was a Tuesday, so the only kanya left was AA. So in the morning i went to RA's house and dropped off the food a little beanie for the little one. The fact that her smile and cuteness made it extra special is a different thing :) . but here's the thing. i was very proud of myself this season. coz i finally felt i have grown up and i am glad that i will be able to pass on some of my culture onto my kids. living in a different country and not being very knowledge of a lot of my own culture, i am glad that i do have some still.

i am glad i had such a great childhood where my cousins made us feel so special. those days were so precious. i don't think i can give my kids the same, but i am going to try very damn hard to not let it all die with me. :)