Festivals are an occasion for us to spend quality time with our family. Most of us hardly know our first and second cousins, aunts and uncles. Our festivals are designed in such a way that we get to meet everybody and perform rituals together, which in turn promotes social unity and brotherhood. At times, certain expenditures are needed to make a festival lively; this helps us spend quality time with the family. To get the feel of the day and make it different from the normal days, you do need a little bit of colour, pomp and grandness that gives a break from monotony. If the festivals were not grand, then nobody would look forward to them. Extravagance, is a “Mark of one’s individuality.” Celebration does not mean wastage; we spend it to find a true festive meaning, or to make a festival more meaningful. There is a reason behind every single ritual. It is up to us; we can become a miser and miss out on all the fun or enjoy all the celebrations.
On the other hand a few of them had the following things to say:
We don’t need money; we need time to make a festival meaningful. Happiness does not come along with excess expenditure. In fact, festivals seem like opportunities for a few people to make a big show for seeking attention. For instance, during Diwali, people generally buy expensive clothes, cars; get their house renovated etc. Not to forget the expenditure on crackers. They compete as to who bursts the most. Leave aside the sound and air pollution, what about the disturbance that is caused to the senior citizens? Most of the time it is the attention seeking people who display extravagance! “Festivals were meant to come closer to god in olden times, now it’s a day-off or shop-till-you-drop!”
