After the muddy monsoon season, with a bright glowing sun on the clear blue sky, the festive season of Nepalese people starts. This is the season of the great festival, Dashain for Nepalese Hindu people filling the great enthusiasm in them. This is the season when every child are so excited all because they get a month holiday from their school and all those job holders get their days off for a week. Happiness and excitement can be felt in the air everywhere we go.
The streets and markets are full of people buying and selling things for the festivals. Every household is busy doing shopping for food, delicacies, clothing, jewelry, and other household materials. The streets are full of crowds and street vendors which makes difficult to walk through. Prior to the Dashain, the traffic congestion increases so much more than the regular due to the people preparing for the festivals. And most of the people who are living temporarily in the capital city return to their home town or village to meet their family and relatives. This is the festival when the people who are living abroad also return back to their country.
On the festive occasion, there are various bumper prizes and schemes of the shopping malls and brands since everybody are so much into shopping in this season. We can see the board hanging or the posters displaying “SALE” pasted to the glass window or door of the every other shop in the streets. All those shopkeepers are offering discount rates and applying every strategy to attract more customers towards them. The price of everything is rising up day by day but the good thing about this city is that there is market for every level of the people living in the city. People can go to those markets only where they can afford to buy otherwise this festival can be headache for those people with low income.
Dashain is the festival of new clothes, having delicious dishes, visiting family and relatives, worshipping goddess, Durga and paying homage in her temples. Mostly children are excited about having new clothes than the adults but this is the season of shopping for anyone. We can see kites flying in the clear sky and mostly the boys are busy flying their kites. Also the big swings “ping” across the bamboo or the branch of big trees are the symbols of Dashain. From the kitchens of every house, we can smell the aroma of mouth watering delicious food. And everywhere worshipping of Goddess, Durga and her different forms are being observed with the prayers that can be heard from distance.
The negative side of this festival can be accounted as its positive sides. The food grains are wasted so much in the name of god, rituals and tradition. Also sacrificing of birds like fowls, ducks and animals like goats, sheep, buffaloes are done all across the country which is against the animal rights. It is not that nothing is done by the animal rights activists but the people do not even care to take a single thought about not sacrificing to god. Thousands of birds and animals are killed in the name of god and the religion and this should be taken as a serious issue.
Dashain is all about having good times with families and relatives, fun with friends, enjoying and celebrating the festival in every possible way. Some are busy shopping while some are busy in the kitchen preparing delicacies. Children are busy flying kites and swinging high up in the air while adults are playing cards and drinking up. Most of us are busy visiting our relatives and friends. The other main act of Dashain is putting “tika” from the elders and receiving blessings and some money as “Dakshina”. This is another part of which children are excited about. As a kid, I remember how there used to be fight among me and my siblings for getting the highest “Dakshina” from our elders. In the childhood, “Dakshina” used to have greater value than the blessings of elders but as time passes and we grow up, blessings are so much more valuable than the amount of money we receive.
Dashain is great festival spreading the happiness and filling up everyone with excitement. But it’s only for those families which can afford the happiness with money; this festival adds more poverty to the poor families. Those people with the low income cannot celebrate the festival in a way the rich ones celebrate. Before few days, I had overheard two people talking about Dashain, “Dashain is not for the people like us, it is ‘Dasha’ (bad omen) for us.” After hearing this sentence, the chill ran down my spine, something stroked my heart and compelled my mind to think about. Of course, Dashain adds more pain for those poor families, even more in the rural areas. It’s hard to imagine how the children would feel whose parents can’t afford new pair of clothes for them, who couldn’t buy a kite for them to fly, and who couldn’t get them a proper meal. So, realizing this fact I have lost my enthusiasm and excitement for Dashain but this does not mean I will not celebrate it. I will obviously celebrate with my family and relatives but I’ll try not to waste too much, avoid extravagant expenditure and celebrate with peace and happiness. After all, this is the season of festival and celebration.
