Like the Chinese ‘ying yan’ life is composed of opposite day and night, dawn and dusk, good and bad, old and young, male and female, hard and soft, work and rest, war and peace, sweet and bitter, and fun and fury are all the complementary phenomenon of life cycle. The longing for having a time of fun and frolic after my treacherous half yearly examination was obviously too stormy.
And why not. After all, the winter vacation falls during the month. Christmas and the festive New Year when everybody is in a mood of fun and frolic. So, this year we planned to celebrate the New Year and Christmas by escaping from Delhi at a distant place and we escaped to Banglore, the Garden city of the south, known for its charming gardens, time, climate and gentle people.
It seemed that the whole of Bangalore was out to celebrate merry Christmas and to welcome the New Year. The streets were filled with people of all sort. The buildings and shops were decorated with colourful banners, lights, balloons, stars etc. Many shop windows displays the winter scene with snow covered Christmas tree and Santa Claus on his sledge. There were many stalls selling cakes, toffees, chocolates, New Year cards and decoration items.
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Suddenly, we heard Christmas carols and the sound of music, the boys and girls were dancing and Santa Claus, seven dwarfs, teddy bear and many other fancy dressed people were distributing sweets, toffees and gifts.
The crowd mingled with the dances and started singing, dancing and rejoicing. The children surrounded Santa Claus and shook hands with him. The fancy dressed bear, elephants and hippopotamus looked funny. There was Mary with her newly born Christ. They were surrounded by the reverends and sheeps. Bright stars were shining in the sky. There were real horses, elephants and camels to give free ride to the children. There was a lucky draw where everybody was trying his luck.
Not so young were surrounding the parrot astrologer who would choose the card telling this fortune. Young girls shy of dancing were surrounding the Banglewali and Mehandiwali. They were proudly showing their coloured Patterns and bangled arms to their friends.
There was an aquarium full of gold fish and waterfall dropping from a miniature mountain. Popcorn was available free with ice-cream and cold drink. Chat stall was too crowded by the girls with their mouths watering. Many People were enjoying the feast of the fast foods.
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With midnight approaching boys and girls, old and young all were participating in fun and frolic. The band streeted playing a Michael Jackson tune and everybody was thrilled. There were loud and spontaneous shrieks when a copy of Michael Jackson came on the stage. It was hard to believe that he was not the real Jackson. He pulled me up on the stage and many girls and boys, persuade for dancing and singing.
No one noticed how the time passed and it was only five minutes to 2011. As the clock bell started ringing, there was a loud thud of crackers, bombs and pricking of balloons. Everyone was wishing a happy new year and embracing his or her partner. After a while the music stopped and it was time to leave. We came back to our hotel. It had been a memorable and a great time full of fun and frolic.
Perhaps the most exciting word in the vocabulary of a student is the ‘Holiday’. It gives everyone a sense of relief and freedom from work and study. In holidays we go to historic places. People in the early days worshipped nature, such as moon, sun, rain, air, thunder and lighting. They hold frequent ceremonies and celebrations. Eventually these celebrations became yearly events, many of the first holidays had religious overtones. They were ‘holidays’.
Later when countries were formed, people began to celebrate national holidays, such as indepdence day, republic day or the birthday of political leaders and celebrities. Apart from these, one holiday found just about everywhere in the world is the weekly rest day. This holiday goes back to Biblical times. The book of Genesis tells that, “God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.”
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Holidays serve an important purpose; they unite the people in a common activity. It might be a prayer or a patriotic display, or just having a good time. Holidays strengthen a person’s feelings towards his fellow men and women. They help to rejuvenate tired body and mind.
In India, people represent several religions. Therefore there are large number of festivals and holidays. These include Diwali, Dussehra, Holi, Christmas, Id-ul-Fitar, Raksha Bandhan, Janamashthmi, Mahavir Jayanti, etc. The Independence Day, republic day and Gandhi Jayanti are the national holidays. There are also state and regional holidays which are celebrated in particular regions Pongal, Onam, Ganesh Chaturthi, etc. are some of such holidays.
Now-a-days, many countries have two holidays, per week i.e. Saturday and Sunday. In some prosperous western countries there are even three holidays per week. As such people have more free time.