It is customary to wish our readers and patrons well on such occasions as Dassehera. As the festival season approaches, we use these columns for the same this year too. But each year since the past so many we keep pointing out the worsening economic situation is making these festivities prohibitively expensive; this year has been the most. Not that this rise in price is not what we observed in previous years. Revelries, good food and new clothes have jumped in prices the more this year. What is not being said is the fact that, since these revelries are associated with the observation of traditional religious ceremonies which pay homage to the goddess Durga in our part of the world, even the very poojas may prove costly in more ways than one. After all, this is the season when our largely agrarian population found time to revel after plantation and harvest. The moneys brought home through the toil fuelled the yearly expenses on clothes and meats. It seemed only logical to share the meats with the gods to whom these are offered this time of year. It seemed fairly grandiose to exchange well wishes and blessings in the family—the ‘tika’ after all is god’s blessings too. But all of us agree that despite a wholesome rainy season, the farms, bereft of the manpower to till it, remain barren. And, so, there is little earning. How many, therefore, will dip into their increasingly meager savings or how many will add to their bloating debts to at least afford their poojas if not new clothes and revelries is what worries Dasain denizens, the goodwill apart. Happy Dasain, nevertheless.
While sharing these genuine wishes with all, its needs emphasis here that the finery and joviality has a religious meaning to it. We must pray this time too to allow good to defeat evil and gain the individual strength to do so, That, after all is what Dasain is all about. The mismanaged queues that are braved by family members to reach home has meaning as this family gathering, too, is what Dasain enables us with. It is the home, family, village and our binding religion that is this country’s strength. Unfortunately in the misplaced modernism of today’s governance, these very fundamental attributes of Nepali society have been touted as obstacles to our development. Doctrinaire philosophies totally alien to our mind set are being enforced upon us by a deliberate process of scuttling the religious and social essence of Nepali cultural festivities by making such observations prohibitively expensive. The hectic buying and selling is mere mirror. It is the thought behind it and the moneys. This government intends to benefit from the transaction, But it is the people that must be capacitated. Happy Dasain again.
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