Tuesday 8 December 2009

Days of Nostalgia

The month of October bought with it the festival of lights. Though I don’t celebrate Deepavali, I always make it a point to sit on my terrace and watch the firecrackers.

For me fire crackers remind me of Huthari, a harvest festival celebrated back home. As a kid since I didn’t get to burst crackers during Deepavali I would wait for Huthari. Dad would take me and my siblings to the shop give us a budget and let us buy what we wanted. Then it was a wait till 8 pm, that was when we were allowed to burst them. Friends from houses near by would join us and along with crackers one could hear laughter and shrieks of children.

Huthari was also a time to show off ones courage. The one who lit the biggest and the nosiest cracker without flinching was considered the most courageous. I am proud to say that there were few times I got the title

And as we finished our stock of crackers elders would carry oil lamps and head to the fields to bring home the first harvest for the year. This done everybody would wait for payasam made along with the first harvest to be served and then head back to their respective homes.

This year as I sat in a quite corner of the water tank and watched the skies light up it brought back memories of the good old days of fun.

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