What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
When I was in the primary, the school was usually closed for a month from Dussehra to Diwali, giving us a much deserved respite from the child labor we were subjected to in the name of homework. It allowed us to lock away the books, organise bigger cricket tournaments, and catch the good old passenger train to the village to meet the cousins.
Diwali used to be my favorite Holiday because on a Diwali night, you were teleported to a utopian dream. Here, the night was not dismal, marked by a lost battle of faint stars above and fainter lanterns below against the engulfing darkness. On the contrary, it was a triumph of the weak but united. Diwali adorned my world with a string of soothing, flickering, buttery flames. It seemed like the stars had descended on the rooftops to keep an ancient promise. Diwali humbled and humanized the dark night.
Today, urbanisation has robbed Diwali of its charm and soul. Nowadays, it’s just a ritualised exuberance of glittering rice bulbs and deafening toxic crackers. The fire is disconcerting. The shine is blinding.
So these days, my favorite holiday is the one that involves not the light but the lightness of being. Academicians, after considerable deliberation, have termed it Sunday.
This is what I do on Sunday.
On some Sundays, I go shopping books.
More details here. If you’re in Delhi, and have not yet been to the book market, you can safely assume that you have deprived yourself of an experience that’s fundamental to human existence.
I also go for a leisurely stroll. Just to inhale unadulterated oxygen.
I eat Good Food when my purse is fat and my guilt stack is thin.
I meet friends and we talk about politics, movies and cricket. We mostly judge everybody. And that’s true fun.
I love reading Books and writing about those. I think what I have realised is if you read fast, you’ll only know the story. So you can do bookgraming.
But if you read slowly, you will know much more than the story. You’ll know the context, the themes, and most importantly, the art of writing.
Holidays are the boons that one should savour with absolute freedom. These are the only days, in our vassal-calendars, which give us the option to be truly human.
roastedmoongfalis 