Festivals and Pandemics - 2020

My social media feed is awash with people wishing each other and their loved ones with cliched and inane messages such as "from mine/ours to yours", "...to you and your loved ones", etc. and it makes me first want to hurl, then shake them by their shoulders and ask them why they're living in denial?

2020 is not a year to celebrate and least of all, make an ostentatious show of it. What exactly are you trying to prove? Sure, treat these festivals as a sign and beacon of hope, but for heaven's sake, don't congregate, throw parties, take group pictures and post anything preceded with the word "Happy" against it. Is there anything truly "happy" about 2020 given what's happening around you?

"Stay home, stay safe" should be the mantra of this unfortunate year when tens of millions of people are falling sick, hundreds of thousands are dying and a cure seems to be months away (at least). Set aside the festivities and "teen patti" parties, the regalia, and the joyous/moronic get-togethers that people are  seen regaling in Instagram posts, Twitter and WhatsApp wishes. These seem terribly misplaced at this point in time. Not to mention, that this is a downward spiral at the end of the day. Seeing influencers or people you follow on social media makes the "influenced" and "followers" go out and try and replicate the same experience with the intent of one-upping the other and addressing their FOMO (fear of missing out)  issues. It becomes yet another endless quest to gain more likes, shares, followers, and subscribers leaving aside the original intent of the festival, forgetting the fiasco that 2020 was, is, and continues to be and makes everyone posting these messages look like ignorant fools. What is even more surprising is that the same people who have been lamenting about someone in their family/extended family/social circle having contracted the disease are the ones inviting others to their homes to come and "spread the joy and celebrate the festival of (insert inane symbol) together as one".

Agreed that this is a moment to reflect and celebrate little sparks of joy in an otherwise terrible year. Enjoy, appreciate, respect, and be hopeful...but don't treat this year as any other year and pretend that all is well in the world. It's not, clearly. And if you think otherwise, just look around you and make note of the fact that you're presumably alone for no fault of yours, sitting at home, not going to work, continuing to hear your friends lament about how their kids are being deprived of an education, using covid-19 as an icebreaker in a conversation, reading articles about how the world is coming to an end (unless of course, you're more interested in reading about the conspiracy theories about suicides in the Indian film industry), although ironically, you may have become numb to the news of despair unless it's personal and have begun scrolling mindlessly through such articles. 

Be more coherent. Be more aware. Be responsible. Be more respectful and be cognizant of your surroundings. Enjoy the various holidays and festivals. Do what you have/need to do, but don't make a show of how ignorant you are by posting "group selfies" on social media. Grow up. And thank your lucky stars you're still alive.

Madness in the name of Our Lord - The Indian Way

It's Holi today. For people unfamiliar with the word, it's the festival of colors where people in this country and their genetic protoplasm spread all around the world like a virus, shed their inhibitions and emerge like the Lochness Monster that's been lying dormant throughout the year spraying color and drinking unbelievable amounts of 'bhaang' (Indianized alcohol, that is deemed and believed to be holy, quite conveniently of course).

Here's a more, real description of what this day usually is like for Indians all over the world.

It's funny how we Indians believe that if there is an occasion to be happy about, they need everyone around them irrespective of caste, creed, and sex to be involved in their happiness. Well, 'forced to be involved' is more like it.

Loud music, unruly behavior, drunken stupor, creating a nuisance, disturbing the peace, forcing down one's beliefs and faith down other people's throats - these are the features of any Indian occasion. How and why are these such important elements of celebrating a festival? You're happy - good. Stay happy in your own home. Mess up your own compound, make a noise in your room, play loud music with your earphones on, spray color on yourself, your family, heck...even your dog. The fact that you're happy doesn't warrant you the right to impose your happiness on me.


Naturally, the rowdier elements of society use this opportunity to threaten the innocent passerby & demand money. But then that's an entirely different matter and doesn't even deserve a separate post since that's really their nature and enough has been written and said about it already.

Funnily enough, this is a day when the lower working class of the Indian population forget which religion they believe in and all of them make it a point to be punctual at the households they work in, are at their best behavior, with a smile upon their faces which is otherwise a contorted countenance on most other days.  There is only one factor that brings about this sea-change in their behavior - 'baksheeh' or money. They consider it their right to partake some money that they feel is rightfully theirs on this auspicious occasion. It is the same set of people who in times of national crises or when it's important for people to keep their wits about them, are up in arms citing religious differences as their main grouse and go about killing people in the name of this sudden attachment to their religious selves and texts alike. Hypocrites - all of them.

Every coin has two sides and if you think about it, this is one festival where this madness results in unity of some sort, where people don't distinguish between each other in terms of skin color or just color in general for that matter.

Coming back to the point. If you're happy about something - keep it to yourself. If someone wants to be a part of that happiness, they will come to wherever you are and join you in your reverie. If someone doesn't feel the need to, or the want either to be part of this artificial day-long craziness, leave them be. Stop that loud music, irrational behavior, crazy drunkenness, and make life normal for people who prefer to celebrate their festival in peace and in the comfort of their own homes. In short (and generalizing it a little bit), GROW UP!