Sunday, November 7, 2010

Celebrations



This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 16; the sixteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.




Whenever there is a day of any significance, we always ask our peers, “How did you celebrate it?” What we fail to realise is, the important question really is, “What did you celebrate?”

In a diverse and multicultural country such as ours, festivals bring together the the various diversities together. During Diwali, you'd see all sorts of Indian people swarming together and buying firecrackers, to be burnt following evening. They burn them together, are the best of friends for an excellent evening, and then go their separate ways once again. They forget each others' names; they forget each others' faces. What did they really celebrate? Diwali? Was celebrating the homecoming of Rama that important? Shouldn't it be infinitely more important to celebrate brotherhood? It's a pity people don't realise that.

This Diwali, I didn't touch fireworks, not that I don't like to, but because I just didn't have the time. My celebrations began quite a few days before the 5th of November. I decided to fall in love, watch my closest friends take one of the toughest tests in the country and then take it myself, and then the day of Diwali itself. I'll proceed in that very order as life needs a sense of governance.

I'd never imagined that lighting a candle, reading a card, exchanging kisses and words of love and simply sitting on a lonesome bench for hours by the water can be anything like a form of celebration. Celebration isn't always about pomp and show. Love gives us a sense of peace and tranquility like no other. The purest of emotions, it is always within us, always deep enough to incite the best of thoughts and the wildest of ideas. Try celebrating love.


The night before I was to take the CAT (Common Admission Test) on the 3rd of November, a couple of friends of mine returned after having the exam themselves on the 2nd. They hadn't done too well, it seemed and wanted to drink over it. They had no intention to call me to join in because I should have been de-stressing for the next day, which is exactly why I joined them myself.
Drinking good whisky in a bar and getting a little tipsy with you best friends repeatedly telling you to maintain control (because there's a test tomorrow) and talking about everything all at the same time; that's celebration. What did we celebrate? I have no clue. But I know that the six of us that were together then and drank together, and spoke about CAT, fights, girlfriends, food, more whisky and other nonsense are close mates and the drinks and the smoke was dedicated not to a failed or upcoming exam, but to friendship.

I'm a final year engineering student in college and it was the first time I couldn't go home for Diwali, owing to my hectic schedule. All of us friends were together, though my girlfriend was away. We decided to do something very different this year, the last year we would all be in one place.
Have you ever driven 40 kilometers on a motorcycle to a little district town to watch a lousy movie? Did you ever stand at a railway crossing and stand on the railway tracks and light a cigarette and then smoke it as the train approached from afar? Did you ever drink beer with your closest friends on the highway, home being only 15 minutes away? I did that. And after coming back, I called my loving girlfriend and let myself get drowned in her tender warm voice. That was my Diwali and I celebrated it well enough to make it my best and certainly the most meaningful ever.

My celebrations have been going on for a while now. I don't see any final stage for them either.



I celebrated friendship; the best form of bonding between a group of individuals who have lived together for years and shared each others' pain and glory.
I celebrated love; the purest, the most inviolable form of emotion between two souls that can possibly exist. It was bliss.



It isn't about a festival. It's about the value of human relations. Every day that we live in this universe, we live in the company of someone; someone important. Every single day that we work and toil and dance in glee is about them. So let's dedicate each day of our lives to those that we love and those that we should remember, yet miss.

So tell me, reader, what did you celebrate?

Happy Diwali to you all.









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27 comments:

Shruti said...

My biggest celebration would be when my code pass the QA and QC in offic :P

D2 said...

To each his own, then. :D

Amity said...

Celebrating love, friendship and many other more is really a great thing to do, but more than that is the spirit that comes with the celebration!

Thank you D2, this is a nice rendition of the prompt...:-)

I am no Indian, but yes, I could fee the spirit of Diwali, since I have already read a lot of many entries most treating the Diwali subject, as if I am already one of you now...

I would love to visit India soon! And celebrate Diwali with Indian friends...:-)

All the best! :-)

D2 said...

Thank you, Amity. And all the best to you too. :)

Anonymous said...

nice rendition indeed

Cherry Blossom said...

A unique approach to convey true feelings of celebrating life through friendship, love and brotherhood. Celebrations hold meaning when at the end of the day, you feel fulfilled and happy. How people can gain their happiness, its the intellect to grab the opportunity and celebrate to the core.All the best.

D2 said...

@foolwise : thank you. :)

@Cherry Blossom : Thanks a lot. And all the best to you too. :)

Miss D said...

As a reader, truly inspiring...
As your special one, I love you for wording out what I already knew about you.

Beautiful piece of writing.

D2 said...

@Dimi : Obviously, you understood the depth of it more than any other reader. :-)
Glad you liked it so much. ;)
And I love you too. :)

Yamini Meduri said...

celebrating those small li'l things on life is the best way to live :)

All the best :)
Here is my celebration:
Ms. Meduri- Celebrations

D2 said...

Thank you Ms Meduri. :)
And all the best to you too.

Srikanth said...

It isn't about a festival. It's about the value of human relations.

COMPLETELY agree!!

Dr. Pratibha Singh said...

completely agree with a thought of celebrating every day; a beautiful thought on celebration.All the best for BAT

D2 said...

@Srikanth : It's a pity so few of us realise the importance.

@Pratibha : Thank you. And all the best to you too. :)

Anonymous said...

Thats some gutsy stuff..!! btw how'z ur CAT..??

Anyways, I also have a blog:
http://aniruddh89.wordpress.com

Please visit it and give ur valuable feedbacks and suggestions.

D2 said...

@aniruddh : Thanks. It was good, I guess.
I'll certainly visit your blog.

Someone is Special said...

Wow this is awesome D2.. You are so good here.. Loved it totally..

Good luck for BAT and do stop by, Someone Is Special - Celebrations

--Someone Is Special--

MuddassirShah said...

Nice nice,
So how did the CAT go? :P
My celebrations were green green, we popped e-crackers on my desktop.

A good write.
Do stop by here
http://muddassirshah.blogspot.com/2010/11/celebrations.html

D2 said...

@Someone Is Special : Thank you so much. Yes, I'll be sure to check out your post.

@Md. Muddassir Shah : CAT was better than I'd expected it to be.
Thanks for your wishes. I'll be sure to see your post asap.

Jaspreet said...

Lovely post! esp loved the closing lines.
Well, i celebrated it in quite an unusual way..i went to various places that i'd been wanting to visit for so long.
All the best for BAT ! :)

D2 said...

Thanks, Jaspreet.
And it's always good to visit places that you've been wanting to, isn't it? :D

Brijender Singh said...

Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle, said Michelangelo.
At the moment, am trying to celebrate the long-lost feeling of accepting the trivialities of life as a reason in themself for a celebration. And for that, i guess it is you i have to thank !

D2 said...

@Brijender : That's an major compliment. Thank you so much. It's good to know that you're celebrating "life". :)

Saro said...

I celebrated family this diwali and i celebrated this country too.. there's something about all of us doing the same thing, at the same time, be it wake up or go to the temple. that gives you the feeling that that belongs to you.. and this country and family and friendship belongs to you :) all the luck fr batom!

D2 said...

@Saro : Very well said indeed. And thank you so much. :)

Kshitij KK Khurana said...

I am so in tune with you on celebrating friendship.

I would happily put it on records that the time spent with friends is the best... and often we remember it the most.

Thanks for writing this. I liked your post a lot.

D2 said...

@Kshitij : Glad you liked it, mate. Yes, celebrating friendship gives one of the best joys of life that we can have.

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