The festival of Karthika… Nostalgia unfolded…

Once a year, the small earthen lamps that were stored away carefully in a rusty old tin on top of a shelf in our store room gets a new lease of life thanks to the festival of Karthika that has a special significance mainly due to the lighted up lamps that adorn the courtyard of houses, filling them with an inviting golden glow at dusk.

As a predictable ritual, my mother washes these earthen lamps collected over a period of time and sun dries them for the evening ritual.  Oil for the lamps and wick cut to proper size are readied simultaneously and as dusk arrives, the lamps are ready to be lit.

It was up to the youngsters of the house(myself and my sister)  to arrange these  lamps at suitable places… in geometric designs on the courtyard, lined atop the compound wall, on either side of the steps leading up to the house, on window ledges, and where ever possible. The children of our non-Hindu neighbor too would assist us in lighting the lamps and it was total fun trying to shield the small flickering flames from the sudden gust of wind which mercilessly blew about this time of the season and relight them which was of absolutely no use as we just couldn’t compete with the wind. My mother used to make a sweet to be offered as ‘prasadam’ which we all used to sit and relish. I would say the whole process was one of family and neighborly bonding and as far as I was concerned, it had less of a religious significance.

Today, once again, a Karthika has dawned on us. My mother still prepares the earthen lamps and I along with my son would definitely light up our courtyard. The glow of these tiny flickering lamps would fill up our home and definitely find a place in my facebook page, but I feel the lack of a vital element that used to be the life force of such festivities in the yesteryears. In general, the enthusiasm seems to have toned down considerably as everything feels more of a chore than an event to be looked forward to. Perhaps it is the absence of the members of the family who are elsewhere living their own lives, perhaps it is our unwillingness to step away from our rigid daily schedules that rule our lives, or perhaps it is the general decline of our values and traditions… I don’t know.

All the while we light the lamps, my son would be thinking of tomorrow’s chemistry pre-model exam, impatient to get back to his studies; I would be wondering as to the night’s dinner dish that is yet to be made and the various jobs  that I need to do before calling it a day; my mother perhaps would be wanting to complete the whole ‘procedure’ before her favorite reality show, Idea Star Singer starts… I guess it is just the strong breeze that would remain the same, blowing out the tiny flickering flames one by one…