This year I was home to celebrate "Tihar" the Nepali version of Diwali. Tihar has always been my all time favorite festival and celebrating it with my family after almost four years made me realize why I love it so much. From the salivating smell of selrotis, the beautiful melody of bhaylenis to the beautiful diyas enhancing the charm of the bright orange saiparti malas adorning every household door, each element adds to the charm of this joyous festival.
I just love the way our quiet Darjeeling is transformed into this busy town throbbing with excitement and vigour during Tihar. The market scene before tihar is a total chaos, every shop is brimming with activity. Every place you go you will find people busy purchasing something or the other. Sweets, flowers, jewellery, clothes, utensils the shopping lists are endless.
Tihar in Darjeeling is a three day long event (sometimes four). Starting with Laxmi Puja, the main day we pray to Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and welcome her into our houses, the many bright diyas guiding her way. Words can't express how beautiful my Darjeeling looked on the eve of Tihar. The familiar song "Bhayleni ayo agan ma, barali kurali rakha na" lingered in the air and brought back wonderful memories of childhood when I used to go around my cousins house singing the beautiful melody. The next day we hear the bhais and dajus singing "Deusure", some as ethnic as it can get with madals guiding the singers and some with modern twists including Sakti Kapoor and Sunil Shetty (so hilarious). The final day is the bhai-tika where all the sisters fast for their brother's well being and adorn their foreheads with long and colourful tikas. The beautiful bond of the brother and sister cannot be expressed more beautifully then the tikas, the longer the tika the longer the life they say.
Being at home this tihar made me realize what I had been missing for the past four years and being submerged in this vibrant ethnic festival made me proud of my ethnicity, proud of the fact that I am a Nepali...."yo maan ta mero nepali ho"...
No comments:
Post a Comment