Oh ! what a mayhem on the roads of Mumbai. Yet again another festival and there, the whole world has left their homes and have come on the road.
Makes me wonder all the noise, all the indiscipline, all the eve - teasing, the Holi played in the name of Durga Puja and Navrati, garba happening in front of Goddess Durga's procession are we confused or what? Where is this country going in the name of religion and festival? why does the decibel level not matter to those same people who have a problem with youngsters throwing a party in their homes and playing loud music or a concert in the city with deadlines of 10pm? Aren't we being too convenient and choosing what is right and what is wrong otherwise but in the name of religion everything seems to suddenly be okay.
It's appalling to see rowdy young boys eve - teasing women on the road while they are on their respective trucks or on foot going to immerse the deity. Drinking and throwing alcohol bottles on the road, littering the city, dancing on bollywood songs that has got absolutely nothing to do with god or spirituality. For heavens sake a procession i passed today had people dancing on 'Saat Samundar par main tere peeche peeche aa gayi' and what happened after that song was even more shocking. The song changes into 'Nayak nahi khalnayak hun mein' and everybody sings along and cheers the song change. I mean really? Khalnayak? aren't we talking about a day when the good claimed it's victory over the evil and here we are dancing on this and claiming we are Khalnayak's? With every year i see people more and more confused about the purpose of celebrating these festivals and it just becomes a time of song, dance, drinking and family entertainment. The majority of the middle class, lower middle class and the poverty stricken population of this country with the onslaught of television and movies has suddenly gotten exposed to cultures alien from theirs (not that the saas bahu serials are helping them any better to learn better about their own). People come to the big city with dreams and get exposed to an already confused culture and they do not know how and where do they figure their customs and cultures in the midst of all this confusion. The result is they join the confusion.
I don't know how this will change i see only deterioration, no improvement in the future as well. The only way out i think is somehow educating these youngsters who have lost touch with the original idea of these celebrations but only have carried on the fervor of celebrating without any purpose. We some where need to hold on to customs and cultures and learn all the right things they were supposed to teach and i know it's an uphill task because it's easier to have an opinion like i have right now but how much can i add to that change? Well i am open to discussions and conversations with people and the only way i admit till now if at all i have added is through trying to question people and then engaging them in a hopefully fruitful argument. All i can do is try and create some perspective in someones mind then it's on the person to want to agree or disagree.
Education to me is the key to keeping true to ourselves and our roots, not the kind of education that teaches you just to 'Mug' as we would call it or 'Ratofy' concepts and vomit in exam papers but an education that would make us want to question everything we see, read or learn to be only able to understand and or better it and broaden our horizon further.
Makes me wonder all the noise, all the indiscipline, all the eve - teasing, the Holi played in the name of Durga Puja and Navrati, garba happening in front of Goddess Durga's procession are we confused or what? Where is this country going in the name of religion and festival? why does the decibel level not matter to those same people who have a problem with youngsters throwing a party in their homes and playing loud music or a concert in the city with deadlines of 10pm? Aren't we being too convenient and choosing what is right and what is wrong otherwise but in the name of religion everything seems to suddenly be okay.
It's appalling to see rowdy young boys eve - teasing women on the road while they are on their respective trucks or on foot going to immerse the deity. Drinking and throwing alcohol bottles on the road, littering the city, dancing on bollywood songs that has got absolutely nothing to do with god or spirituality. For heavens sake a procession i passed today had people dancing on 'Saat Samundar par main tere peeche peeche aa gayi' and what happened after that song was even more shocking. The song changes into 'Nayak nahi khalnayak hun mein' and everybody sings along and cheers the song change. I mean really? Khalnayak? aren't we talking about a day when the good claimed it's victory over the evil and here we are dancing on this and claiming we are Khalnayak's? With every year i see people more and more confused about the purpose of celebrating these festivals and it just becomes a time of song, dance, drinking and family entertainment. The majority of the middle class, lower middle class and the poverty stricken population of this country with the onslaught of television and movies has suddenly gotten exposed to cultures alien from theirs (not that the saas bahu serials are helping them any better to learn better about their own). People come to the big city with dreams and get exposed to an already confused culture and they do not know how and where do they figure their customs and cultures in the midst of all this confusion. The result is they join the confusion.
I don't know how this will change i see only deterioration, no improvement in the future as well. The only way out i think is somehow educating these youngsters who have lost touch with the original idea of these celebrations but only have carried on the fervor of celebrating without any purpose. We some where need to hold on to customs and cultures and learn all the right things they were supposed to teach and i know it's an uphill task because it's easier to have an opinion like i have right now but how much can i add to that change? Well i am open to discussions and conversations with people and the only way i admit till now if at all i have added is through trying to question people and then engaging them in a hopefully fruitful argument. All i can do is try and create some perspective in someones mind then it's on the person to want to agree or disagree.
Education to me is the key to keeping true to ourselves and our roots, not the kind of education that teaches you just to 'Mug' as we would call it or 'Ratofy' concepts and vomit in exam papers but an education that would make us want to question everything we see, read or learn to be only able to understand and or better it and broaden our horizon further.
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