Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Festivals of India

India is a land of varying cultures and traditions . Festivals constitute an intregal part in the life of a common man here.Their are numerous festivals that are celebrated in India measuring the length and depth of our nation . We can see people celebrating Holi - the festival of colors in north, East we go and see people celebrating Durga puja , moving onto west we find Ganesh chaturthi and as we head towards south we find that Onam and Pongal are the flavors there.But our country lacked a festival which could be celebrated by any person beyond the domains of religion and culture , age and sex . A festival which would not belong to a genre of people but could be adapted by anyone who is willing to do the same.Taking this into account , some intellectuals joined hands and created a festival meant for all genre of people , predominantly the youth.The festival proved to be an immediate success immediately after its arrival and became a success in every middle class household. " Fact " wise (statistically), more than 3 lakh persons across our nation are directly involved with the celebrations each year . This festival has survived the test of time and has become one of the widely enjoyed and most celebrated & is better known by the name of "CAT"
"Cat" occurs on the 3rd Sunday of November each year .Found a lot of years ealier, it has been embraced readily by the youth of our nation and has been growing by leaps and bounds each year.Normally it falls b/w 18th to 20th November each year depending upon the position of the moon . The immense success that it has received is the primary reason for it being elevated to the status of the "National hobby", a great honor indeed.
As with any festival , the preparation of Cat starts well bf4 8 -10 months before the D -Day.
Coaching centres ,test series ,study materials , web sites ,all contribute immensely in the preparation . But basically the festival belongs to the people who are directly involved on the D - day. These people are known as participants.The participants , who range from 20 -60/70(ideally) years of age , are the one directly involved in the celebrations on the Cat day. They are also the one , who , if successful , get the maximum perks.It requires a lot of hard work and mental acumen to contribute one's best to the cause of the festival , but most importantly it requires a gr8 temparement on the D -day to celebrate it best and reap the sweet rewards.As an wen the the festival gets over , sm particpants get satisfied , sm demoralised , some optimistic & some some start preparing for the next year again. But apart from the success and the failure, this whole process earmarks an important lesson .Even the best of preparation cannot always yield a successful outcome.One must therefore realise that Cat can never be the end of life and like any other festival , it is too meant to be enjoyed watevr the end result is . You never need a festival to celebrate , u just need a day to start your celebrations. And from that day , all days will become a festival.