53. The River

I give water to the thirsty
Freshness to the tired
Life to the parched soil
With love, concern and joy.

I impart coolness to the wind
That happens to cross me
I clean big and little stones
That try to block my path.

The music in my drops
Is for everyone to hear
The banks on my flanks
Are for all to relax.

I will continue to work
Day after day, year after year,
With no sign of weariness
If you show a little care
If only you let me flow.

77.Festivals and gifts

Exchange of gifts is an important part of our major festivals. This gives people a chance to go shopping which is a big stress-buster. Be it Holi , Diwali or any other festival, people can be seen buying sweets, dry fruits, household items and other things to be wrapped in attractive packets and given away as gifts. Around festival days, residential colonies are full of people unloading gift packets from their vehicles to be delivered to their recipients.

When one pays for gifts, it does not pinch much, because the receiver of the gift is likely to return stuff of almost equal value. One problem that the receiver normally encounters is that the price tag is often removed while handing over the gift. The intention in many cases is to keep the receiver under the illusion that the gift is worth much more in terms of money than what it actually is. The other person keeps guessing and may sometimes return a gift of much higher or lower value than what he would have done if the price tag had been left intact.

For some people, festivals may provide an opportunity to make some earning by way of exchange of gifts. They may travel far and wide in search of gifts which look much costlier than what they actually are. They may also try to pass on old stuff in new cartons.

There is one category for which festivals mean only receiving and not giving. These are people in high positions either in the Government or in the private sector. If they are pleased, they can confer monetary or non-monetary advantage on the givers of gifts. They are in a position to award some contract, purchase order, licence and so on. The giver of the gift thinks that giving is his duty and the taker thinks that taking is his right. Both are happy. Family members of many takers eagerly wait for their call bells to ring during major festivals. Such people easily inspire the envy of their neighbours. Those officers who do not receive gifts during festivals are considered lightweight not worth having as parents or spouses.

Gifts strengthen relationship when given with love without any consideration of benefit. These then become a manifestation of our inner feelings and remind us of beautiful moments spent with our loved ones. Let us not exchange gifts as a mere formality. Let us not make gifts a substitute of bribe.

76. Festivals without sweets

Deewali, Bhai Dooj and Chhat Puja have just been over and Guru Nanak Jayanti, Christmas and Makar Sankranti are waiting to quickly take over. One of the reasons why we like festivals is that these give us sanction to indulge our sweet tooth to our heart’s content. What is a festival without sweets? On non-festival days, we think of all the harmful effects of sweets, especially the kilos we would put on and greedily gaze at the plateful of sweets. A small portion that we sometimes magnanimously allow ourselves is hardly helpful. It is so disproportionate to the craving. It is like watching the trailer without getting a chance to see the movie. Rather than satisfying, it only whets our craving.

Come festivals and we can lower our guard, throwing all restrictions to the wind. The family members who keep an eagle’s eye on what we eat are silent for a change. The only dampener recently has been the reports of adulteration, especially in milk-based sweets. Harmful synthetic stuff is being so widely used in milk and milk products that we are almost grateful to those who mix only water in milk. We shudder to buy milk-based sweets from our neighbourhood shops. During festivals, we have to manage with non-milk sweets which are hardly sweets. Packaged rasgollas, gulab jamuns and rajbhogs which we occasionally buy do not taste the same as fresh ones.

If during festivals, visitors gift us fresh milk-based sweets, we almost look at them accusingly and at the earliest opportunity, pass on the stuff to those whose health does not matter to us. Why are we so helpless against those who have robbed us of the pleasure of the sweets we have been so much used to consuming during festivals?

52. The floods

I saw the waters rushing in
Taking away all I had –
The wooden stool on which I sat
The board game that I played
The mattress on which I slept
The picture books I read
The slate on which I wrote
The chalk-box on the window
The pencil I enjoyed sharpening
The sharpener itself and much more…

They have returned everything to me
Sparkling new and well-packaged
But when are they going to return
My chirpy little brother
Whom the waters have taken away?