Problem Of Plenty!!!

I remember my childhood days when we would very eagerly look forward to festivals.Festivals those days meant so much of enjoyment& happiness.The new clothes,the sweetmeats, good food,meeting relatives and friends were all a definite part of every festival.

Every festival had it own specifics.Let us start from the tamil new year or 'Vishu'.

New Year in tamil families generally referred to as"Varusha Pirappu"was ushered in, in a beautiful way.Early morning after decorating the main entrance or vasal with a nice big Kolam or rangoli as it is known and tying 'maavilai' on the door, it is 'Kani Kanaradu'.A tray with betel leaves,supari, turmeric,coconut, fruit variety,flowers,raw bananas,raw rice, gold or silver coin &sandal&kumkum, a'Ramayanambook' is arranged& a mirror is kept on the tray where you can see the reflection of all that is in the tray.A Kuthivilakku is also placed alongside.This is generally called 'Vishu Kani'. All of us begin the day by going to the pujai room first and opening our eyes there, so that Kani is the first thing you see that day.This ofcourse is not a practise in all tamil households.(used to be a practise in my house though!)It is also a belief that the page that one opens on the Ramayanam book that day will have a beariing on one's life in the coming year.New clothes was certainly a part of the celebration.Doing namaskaram to all elders at home and taking their blessings was mandatory for all festivals.Then followed the good New Year grand lunch.The New year lunch involves all types of vegetables,bitter, sweet sour etc.the idea is probably that life is made up of sweet, sour& bitter stuff.A typical new year lunch in aTamil household as I remember would be:

mango (raw mango) sweet pachidi with neem flowers seasoning,thair pachidi,poriyal,aviyal,bittergourd pitlai, tomato rasam, appalam vadai, payasam,if 'mapillai'(son in law) is visting then poli.I remember as a kid I used to truly enjoy everything.

Like this every festival had its own specific charm and enjoyment.Modakams, (I remember my mother used to make five types of Kozhyakattai's) for Pillayar chathurthi,Cheedai, tattai therattipal etc for janmashtami,different types of sundal during navarathri and mixture, halwa, thenguyal, mysore pak, legiyam for Diwali.(I remember my mother never skipped the Halwa during Diwali for so many, many years).

Today I observe that none of all this can be of any enjoyment to most kids.Getting up early and taking a bath is a major task. The new year by itself is probably no big deal today (in fact may be a bore for quite a few of the younger generation),the food does not interest them,nor does anything else accompanying.I many times wonder what the reason could be, why none of those hold any charm for present day kids.

Is it because today there is always some sweet at home all through the year, new clothes are always there in the cupboard,we tend to always make food that they like,is it becasue we have pampered and spoilt tham no end???Is it that we have failed somewhere as parents to teach our children to enjoy the little things of life ??Is it aproblem of plenty???

Is it that we have not been able to explain the importance of all our festivals because we were busy with our own search in life???Is it that we ourselves are not convinced about the way festivals are celebrated???

Our elders did not have as much of financial freedom as we do, but inspite of it all festivals were celebrated with full enthusiasm and happiness.They enjoyed the smile in their children's faces.A new dress and some sweets were enough to make a kid feel happy and be thrilled.Today probably only expensive gifts could bring that smile I suppose.I am driven to think that the reason for this is the problem of plenty!!!

It is very important to teach kids to enjoy the small things in LIFE!!!!

Wishing Everyone

"INIYA SARVATHARI VARUSHA VAZHTHUKKAL!!!!"