Festivities of my Childhood - Part4


Festivities of my Childhood - Part4:

Until now I gave a description of how we used to celebrate festivals as a community affair. I shared my memories of Holi during my Childhood (Read here). I talked of the fun and frolic we had during Durga Puja (Navratri) and Dussehra (Read here). I also shared the memories of all the festivities during Diwali (Read here). In continuation I share remembrances of few more festivals.

Krishna Janmashtami:

Janmashtami or Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna was celebrated with a lot of religious activities. People celebrate fasting, singing and praying together in Temples. I remember kids used to prepare "Jhankis" (Tableau) depicting various life incidences of Lord Krishna.
I remember there was a Shiv Mandir near our house which used to celebrate Janmashtami with a lot of religious fanfare. The Mandir was decorated with a lot of Jhankis. At midnight Janam Utsav (festival of birth) was celebrated. Later Durga Mandir, which was nearer to our house, also started celebrating Janmashtami. As I remember there used to be LIVE telecast on Television of the Janmotsav (festival of birth) from Mathura/Vrindavan.
I remember it always rained heavily on Janmashtami. According to Hindu Mythology as well it rained heavily on Janmashtami.

EID:

My father had some Muslim colleagues in his office. They used to invite us and other families on the occasion of EID. We used to visit their place and enjoy the food and the sweet dishes. Everybody would get together and celebrated the festival. It was such a good experience we as kids had.

Lohri:

Lohri is celebrated mostly on 13th January every year. It is a festival commonly celebrated in Punjab and Northern India. It marks the end of winter and start of longer days. Ancient folklore associates it to the winter crop celebration. 
In our colony we had few Sikh and Punjabi families who used to invite us on Lohri. A bonfire would be set and people would sing and dance around the bonfire. After a marriage or after a new born in the house the first Lohri was of even more importance. We as kids would enjoy the Rewari & Gachak (kind of sweets), gurh (Jaggery), popcorns and other sweets and savories that was distributed after the songs and dances.

Christmas:

We did not have any Christian family in the colony in Dehradun, so we would not witness much festivity on Christmas. But while we were in Mysore (now called Mysuru) we used to celebrate Christmas as well as there were quite a few Christian families living around us. I was a small kid back then hence I have very faint memories of Christmas Celebrations.

Independence Day & Republic Day:

Independence Day and Republic Day was celebrated at our School. Every student would line up in the assembly ground where the flag hosting would be done. There used to be cultural programs performed by students. Scout and Guides also used to perform few activities and welcome the Chief Guest. I used to be a leader in all the Scout and Guide activities. The celebrations would culminate with distribution of Sweets (Laddus) to everyone.
On Republic Day we also used to religiously watch the Republic Day parade and procession that was telecasted Live from Delhi.

Fares & Melas:

Other than the festivals there used to be a lot of Fares & Melas organized in Dehradun. We used to visit these Fares & Melas. Visiting Melas in the Parade Ground was quite frequent. I remember these Melas would have the Circus which we as kids enjoyed a lot. I faintly remember there used to be a yearly exhibition in Mysore (now called Mysuru) which we visited every year. The exhibition used to have an Amusement Park with few rides, magic show arena, circus etc which the kids enjoyed.

One of the cultural fares organized in Dehradun that we loved a lot was 'Virasat'. We used to religiously visit Virasat. Stalls from various regions and states of India were put on show in Virasat. Eminent personalities, Singers, Bands, and various other artists performed in Virasat. We used to enjoy the performances a lot.

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Location: Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

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Ankur Tandon
Hello World!!! I am Ankur Tandon. I am a Software Engineer with a passion to travel and explore new places. Working with industry majors like Google, PwC, TCS etc has given me the opportunity to roam around the world. I have visited around 12 countries, numerous cities and places. Here I share with you my travel experiences, and information about various places.Hopefully it will help you better plan your next trip. “Sayonara” “ Astalavista” “AU Revoir”.