~ Reflections ~

The festival of lights (and dreams) recently went by. Most of us were busy buying clothes, cleaning up, shining our pots, cooking the annual delicacies (read sweets and savories). These annual activities are something most staying in India will relate to. As one grows up (read starts to grey), there is a melancholy associated with most of it. What my mother must be making... what we used to do when the children hadn't flown out of the nest... this time of the year makes us relive all the fun and joy of this time of the year. To me, this festival is all about cleaning, not just the dust, but trimming my wardrobe and home of things that haven't been used in a while. I feel it is important to trim down what one has to welcome the bounty that awaits ! Happy Deepawali !     

All of us have small little rituals, that comfortably become a part of our daily lives... And we don't even notice them till they stop... be it a good night kiss, or a meal together.. Actually, I always used to wonder during my childhood why my mother used to try her best that all of us eat dinner together at the dinner table... yes.. dinner table !!! It all sounds like an alien concept, with tight schedules and the television to give us company.. But it all makes sense to me now... through our entire busy day,we are always surrounded by different objects/people... Dinner seems to be the only time when the entire family has the opportunity to sit together.. and talk... discuss the day's events... and other trivial things.... As unimportant and trivial as it may sound, I have come to believe that a family that eats together, stays together !!!