It holds the promise of a day filled with `back to rustic life' kind of activities like buying earthen diyas, soaking them in water and lighting them, on Diwali, wearing mehendi and eating phirni on Karva Chauth. The celebration of festivals, whether it be Dussehra, Karva Chauth or Diwali, is important because on this day one takes out time to meet friends and relatives and exchange gifts. It is an occasion of being together of remembering times and being happy. Just like to memory of daffodils for Wordsworth, the memory of festivals celebrated with near, dear and loved ones, can give a fresh breath to life.

Today, when rules and values are being redefined, festivals have become important because they ground us while giving us sense of tradition and continuity. No matter how educated and how modernised a person, he or she wants to pass on to his or her children what he or she learnt from parents and grandparents. On every Diwali, every household gets together to do extensive cleaning up of the house to entice Goddess Lakshmi to visit.

There seems to be a deep rooted attachment to the hymns chanted in Lakshmi pooja, to the rituals and rites involved in celebrations. Perhaps Carl Jung was right when he talked of racial archetypes. Perhaps our ritualistic attachments go way back in time and are deeply ingrained in our sub-conscious.

The significance of festivals is not just limited to group sentiment, it goes much beyond as each household and each individual constructs personal responses to festive occasions. For those who have faced harsh times, it is a time to restore belief in their roots, and make a fresh start. In this way, our festivals give us an identity which we often hold on to.

The manner in which we celebrate the festivals nowadays has certainly changed but let it not stand for undermined importance of the same. Ostentation apart, rest is all a part of the festive spirit. The skeptics who criticise the festivals for ecological and wasteful reasons, need to think twice. The wasteful consumption of in term of buying gold and other luxury goods in our country is highest on day-to-day basis. I agree that gaudy ostentation completely spoils the spirit of festivity but giving and receiving has always been a part of Indian tradition. Where ecological concerns stand, there, first and foremost we need to stop the drastic pollution caused by vehicles on the roads and industries in the country side. Burning crackers once a year will not bring the ozone layer down.

Most of the Indian festivals happen, to celebrate the victory of good over evil and thus to celebrate our very existence on this planet. They are, in themselves, an inspiration to us, to think well for everyone, no matter what the odds against us. They stand for togetherness, much needed in a world of nuclear families and isolated lives.

The writer is a second year student of Mass Communication, Punjab University.