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Metro Plus
Where has the fun gone?
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With rising costs, busy schedules and TV channels flooded with entertainment programmes, the festival of lights has lost much of its charm today.
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IT WAS time to visit all relatives and friends with packets of home-made sweets. The car would be loaded with containers and mother would come running behind to ensure that the right container went to the right house. We used to love these trips because it meant not only visiting relatives and seeking their blessings by prostrating before them, but also catching up with spicy news and receiving gifts. After a sumptuous lunch followed by a good sleep the festivities would continue till late in the night with fireworks.
The next day it would be a simple meal of milagu kulambu and chutta appalam, giving a complete break to the system. This was the routine during Diwali, but if it was a thalai Diwali for someone at home, fun and festivities would be much more.
The celebrations are no longer same in our city.
Today Diwali means more expenses. Bad roads, choking traffic and chaotic crowd make shopping an unpleasant experience. And it's not just buying clothes for the family, but also for the maidservant, driver, postman, milkman etc. By the end of it all you realise the big hole in your pocket. Diwali may have meant caring and sharing then, not today. Though everything comes readymade now, but with a price. Just place an order for the sweets you want and it will be at your doorstep within few hours.
Nobody likes to get up early. As it is a holiday and with most couples working, they have stopped following the ritual of an early morning bath.
What about visiting relatives? No way. With so many film programmes lined up on various channels, it is better to relax at home. And evenings? The children are off to their friends place. You husband goes off to the club for a card session. While the wife would like to sleep or watch television. And if it rains on Diwali day, even the little fun is lost. Maybe we can just sit back and think about the good old days when Diwali was a much-awaited day of the year.
GEETHA RAJAGOPAL
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