When time stood still...

This time of the year when I wish to go back to childhood, go back to the times when we would wait for the exams to get over, do the shopping and enjoy the festivities. This morning I sat and penned a few memories of Mahalaya and immediately the melody of the Devi Stuta seemed to be playing in the background.

This evening as I walked back from the market, witnessing the Ganesh Visarjan procession my thoughts immediately went back to those days of the Durga Visarjan. Back home we would throng the streets and almost everyone had a tear in the eye bidding good bye to the Mother with shouts of ‘Ma, don’t go, come back soon’.

For a split second, I stood there like a child watching the procession with the same kind of enthusiasm I had years back, then suddenly ran back home to pick my little niece so she could witness the same. This was how culture was imbibed in us by our elders.

We walked with the crowd today until the point where we could get ‘darshan’ of the deity. The bright and decorated trucks and ‘Jai Deva, Jai Deva’ playing in the air, people walking as they sang, bowing and praying,  was a treat, something I missed in Delhi and Delhi felt like home for the first time today.