Diwali - A time for celebration not forced guilt conscience
Childhood memories of festivals in India are sure to bring a huge smile on anybody's face. Especially for NRIs like me. Makes you feel happy from deep within.
Having grown up in the Old city of Hyderabad, the things that come to my mind when I think of Diwali in my childhood is the beautifully decorated shops, festive sounds of crackers starting well before the actual Diwali day and continuing days after Diwali, the race to be the first one to wake up early morning on Narakachaturdasi and 'announce' to the entire colony by blasting the first Sutlibomb! Sweets and savouries were secondary. Diwali meant fireworks. Of course Lakshmi Puja was also important. Least Goddess Lakshmi is not pleased and we have less money to buy crackers the next year!
The same with many other festivals.
Now that I have grownup and have kids, I want my kids also to experience the same. But then again I fear for that. Time and again, especially since last few years, the So-called Intelligentsia of India and the self-proclaimed rationalists are making me feel so guilty for feeling happy with these memories that I have started feeling ashamed. They make me feel guilty for causing Climate change by celebrating Diwali (sic). I am guilty of flying Kites on Sankranti because, they say, birds were harmed. But somehow I don’t remember any bird getting entangled in my manja. They make me feel guilty for celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi. They make me feel guilty for celebrating Holi, Raksha bandhan- they say it is a sign to showing women as weak and being in need of protection. They forget Vat Savirti where a man was in need of protection by a woman.
Any celebration by Hindus is somehow bad.
Unfortunately many respected publications in the west simply get carried away by the blitzkrieg of these intellectuals and make us NRIs feel even worse.
The propaganda by the missionaries and the Indian Intelligentsia against the Hindu religion is so strong that whatever we do is automatically 'Strange', 'Funny' and 'Illogical'.
We NRIs have a unique way of celebrating our Hindu festivals. Any weekend falling near to the Hindu festival day we gather together in some place and have some cultural dances and songs and Indian food. The almost same celebration for all festivals. But the entire essence of the Hindu festivals is lost. Every Hindu festival is unique, with a unique way of celebrating. But when the unique ways are systematically being destroyed in India itself what to expect of NRIs?
If you want to destroy a culture which has a strong following amongst masses, follow the method of the early missionaries in Europe. To destroy the 'Pagan'(sic) religion, they did not directly force the Pagans to give up their religion. They attacked the customs first. Made them look funny and then ridiculous. Once an object of worship/respect is reduced to the level of an object of ridicule or fun, the follower no longer have the same amount of spiritual affection towards it and the religion is sure to crumble. Take the case of the present day fun event of 'Carnival'. This was originally the pagan festival celebrating the end of cold winter and welcoming the gods of spring. After making the Pagans feel ridiculous about their customs and then to later pacify them aligned it with the Easter
celebrations. Target achieved! Pagan religion wiped out. The native culture destroyed.
I fear the same of being practiced in India. The evangelists have been replaced by the So-called Intelligentsia of India and self-proclaimed rationalists. Or are they the wolves in the sheep’s clothing?
Diwali - causing climate change
Holi- Harmful for domestic animals
Sankranti- Dangerous for animals
karva chauth- Patriarchal
vat savitri- ridiculous
the list is long.
Even as a child my father and my Uncle were not very supportive of fire crackers. In fact my uncle used to says I am just burning money. But then again this was their opinion and they respected others opinion of celebrating. It is one thing to raise concern about something but a completely different thing to systematically trying to destroy and entire culture. Targeting one religion and ridiculing all their beliefs and customs in the name of being rational.
We must remember that every festival, every celebration in Hindu religion is very closely connected to nature worship, celebrating human relation with domesticated and non-domesticated animals, special importance to special flora and fauna on different festivals. We revere the nature as our mother God. Yes, as time goes some unwanted rituals are bound to creep in. the best way is to amicably weed out these. Ridicule and destruction are definitely not the way.
Sandeep Kulkarni
Having grown up in the Old city of Hyderabad, the things that come to my mind when I think of Diwali in my childhood is the beautifully decorated shops, festive sounds of crackers starting well before the actual Diwali day and continuing days after Diwali, the race to be the first one to wake up early morning on Narakachaturdasi and 'announce' to the entire colony by blasting the first Sutlibomb! Sweets and savouries were secondary. Diwali meant fireworks. Of course Lakshmi Puja was also important. Least Goddess Lakshmi is not pleased and we have less money to buy crackers the next year!
The same with many other festivals.
Now that I have grownup and have kids, I want my kids also to experience the same. But then again I fear for that. Time and again, especially since last few years, the So-called Intelligentsia of India and the self-proclaimed rationalists are making me feel so guilty for feeling happy with these memories that I have started feeling ashamed. They make me feel guilty for causing Climate change by celebrating Diwali (sic). I am guilty of flying Kites on Sankranti because, they say, birds were harmed. But somehow I don’t remember any bird getting entangled in my manja. They make me feel guilty for celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi. They make me feel guilty for celebrating Holi, Raksha bandhan- they say it is a sign to showing women as weak and being in need of protection. They forget Vat Savirti where a man was in need of protection by a woman.
Any celebration by Hindus is somehow bad.
Unfortunately many respected publications in the west simply get carried away by the blitzkrieg of these intellectuals and make us NRIs feel even worse.
The propaganda by the missionaries and the Indian Intelligentsia against the Hindu religion is so strong that whatever we do is automatically 'Strange', 'Funny' and 'Illogical'.
We NRIs have a unique way of celebrating our Hindu festivals. Any weekend falling near to the Hindu festival day we gather together in some place and have some cultural dances and songs and Indian food. The almost same celebration for all festivals. But the entire essence of the Hindu festivals is lost. Every Hindu festival is unique, with a unique way of celebrating. But when the unique ways are systematically being destroyed in India itself what to expect of NRIs?
If you want to destroy a culture which has a strong following amongst masses, follow the method of the early missionaries in Europe. To destroy the 'Pagan'(sic) religion, they did not directly force the Pagans to give up their religion. They attacked the customs first. Made them look funny and then ridiculous. Once an object of worship/respect is reduced to the level of an object of ridicule or fun, the follower no longer have the same amount of spiritual affection towards it and the religion is sure to crumble. Take the case of the present day fun event of 'Carnival'. This was originally the pagan festival celebrating the end of cold winter and welcoming the gods of spring. After making the Pagans feel ridiculous about their customs and then to later pacify them aligned it with the Easter
celebrations. Target achieved! Pagan religion wiped out. The native culture destroyed.
I fear the same of being practiced in India. The evangelists have been replaced by the So-called Intelligentsia of India and self-proclaimed rationalists. Or are they the wolves in the sheep’s clothing?
Diwali - causing climate change
Holi- Harmful for domestic animals
Sankranti- Dangerous for animals
karva chauth- Patriarchal
vat savitri- ridiculous
the list is long.
Even as a child my father and my Uncle were not very supportive of fire crackers. In fact my uncle used to says I am just burning money. But then again this was their opinion and they respected others opinion of celebrating. It is one thing to raise concern about something but a completely different thing to systematically trying to destroy and entire culture. Targeting one religion and ridiculing all their beliefs and customs in the name of being rational.
We must remember that every festival, every celebration in Hindu religion is very closely connected to nature worship, celebrating human relation with domesticated and non-domesticated animals, special importance to special flora and fauna on different festivals. We revere the nature as our mother God. Yes, as time goes some unwanted rituals are bound to creep in. the best way is to amicably weed out these. Ridicule and destruction are definitely not the way.
Sandeep Kulkarni
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