Traditions

Linking this with #Daily Chatter #UBC Day 10.

Traditions

#100DaysOfBlogging Day 18

Every festival brings its own traditions and customs. On this day of Navaratri, we do puja for all machines and instruments that help earn livelihood. I wasn’t aware of the reason for Ayudha pooja day until very recently.

At office, the puja is done for the computers, for vehicles, for the accounts cash boxes and so on. After the puja, we get some sweets and puffed rice with jaggery mixed in it. This is the prasadam. At home, puja is mainly done for the vehicles. After the puja is done, the vehicle is taken out for a ride immediately.

When I was younger, it was my responsibility to clean my bicycle, get it ready for the puja, and afterward, ride it over half a lemon and ride the bicycle once around the neighborhood. It used to be done on Ayudha pooja without fail. With time, these have changed. While some of my family still do it punctually, others do it on one of the days of Navratri when they have an off from office.

Traditions can be followed at one’s convenience, of course. But I wonder if festivals are slowly becoming just a formality.

(© Vinay Leo R. @ I Rhyme Without Reason, 10^th October 2016)

Vinay Leo R.

Poetry & writing to me are to me, a breath of fresh air in a life that is sometimes covered by the smoke of sorrow or self doubt. They also become the sweets I share to celebrate when life offers me a reason to. But most of all, they are to me, my life. For each word I write is a piece of my heart, a thought that just had to find its way into the world.