FESTIVALS ARE JUST AN EXCUSE

I feel celebrations and festivals those days were more than the frenzy of activities. It was in the special-ness of the moment

Growing up, what I used to love about festivals was the fact that their fragrance would be in the air much before they arrived at our doorstep. Whether it was the sweet-ish aroma from clarified butter being slow-cooked for all the delicious sweets and savouries mum would prepare weeks before the festival, or the petrichor-ish smell of polish that would take over the house when dad would give all the brass lamps in the house a good scrub – the whiffs and wafts of celebration heightened its anticipation and the excitement of it.

But in hindsight, I feel festivals and celebrations those days were more than the frenzy of activities. It was in the special-ness of the moment. Me trying to ‘negotiate’ with mum that I needed – not just wanted – a dress that came from a shop and not one that was made from one of her old saris; or my brother devising ways to get to canisters full of fresh homemade sweets and savouries that were stashed away from our grubby reach. These precious memories, I guess, will never fade away. (The fact that after all this time both of us still giggle over our escapades has a lot to do with it.)

As I sit down to write this note, keeping in mind that Diwali is around the corner and nostalgia alone does not maketh a celebration, I wonder what really does make a celebration.

Maybe it’s that time we start depositing happy memories in our memory bank instead of withdrawing from it in the name of nostalgia.

So here’s hoping all of you, me included, succeed in creating delicious, happy and glorious memories.

Mrinal Shekar, Editor Reach me at mshekar@gulfnews.com