Navratra puja

Here comes the Navratra again, the festival which has crossed the narrow barriers of religion. The perfect time for indulging oneself in food, fun and revelry. I used to keep fast on navratra's and eat variety of food meant to be eaten in fast. It comprised of "sabudana ki khichdi" , shyamak ki kheer, kuttu ki roti and lot more. In the night we used to play dandiya. Everyone used to be in high festive spirit and nobody mind even getting hit by dandiya (till you do not break a bone or two). That was teen age. But now after having a daughter I have another role to play. Today I got up early and prepared puri, chola and halwa for prasad. After performing pooja I invited little girls nearby to eat the prasad. Nearby a Nepali family lives who work as a household help in the locality. They have two young daughters, I invited those children too. To my surprise they came and said that "we are Christians and cannot eat your prasad ". But when they saw other girls enjoying their meal they became sad. I convinced their mother to let them have it as it is just a food and no religion denies taking it. I don’t know whether she was convinced by what I said or she was taken by the sad faces of her children, she agreed.

But this incident has really set me into thinking that what we are teaching to our younger generation. We are poisoning their young minds and making them believe that some people are different due to their religion and so should be boycotted. People are propagating hatred. Vandalism and violence can’t be justified in the name of religion. Somebody is against Hindus, somebody against Christians, somebody against Muslims. Who this somebody is??? A faceless giant which has taken lives, shelter of many. The people who are trying to take revenge on people of a particular religion are not aware that in the end they kill only "humanity".

On this sacred occasion I pray to goddess to forgive us human and bless us with her wisdom so that we can let go the emotions of anger, distrust, hatred that we are holding on.