18

Of Christmas, Carols and Santa…

Posted by Yashika Totlani Khanna on 12:15 PM in ,


First things first, and this is for the regulars, I have been keeping a little busy people… hence the dearth of posts in the past few weeks. The next 2-3 weeks are going to be no different with my exams coming and all, but I’ll try to stay as regular as possible.

Now for the actual post:

25th December 2006:
* Scene 1- My cozy bedroom *
12:00am: I’m enjoying a still night when suddenly…* buzz * --- my phone buzzes to break the silence. It’s a message from a friend wishing me merry Christmas. In the festive spirit, I reply back with a cherry message and good wishes. Things are calm again and now I’m trying to concentrate on work, when I’m shook up by another * buzz * --- one more friend wishing me Christmas. I reply back to this one as well. Concentrate… concentrate… but * buzzes ** rings * --- I’m startled many times over… more good wishes and season greetings are exchanged… and this goes on for one whole hour.

* Scene shift – Connaught Place market, Central Delhi *
3:00pm: The winter vacations have just started and I’m out catching up with a dear one in cp. An awesome music show and a brief session of sifting through Oxford Bookstore later, we are out on the streets looking for a present for my younger brother. He suggests a swiss army knife and we find ourselves looking for a shop that would sell one. One quick glance and you realize that the market scene is quite interesting here: shop windows painted by/covered in oodles of red and white, christmas sale everywhere, fake santas out on the streets giving away sweets to kids, crowds supposedly ‘enjoying the festival’, christmas decorations coupled with small vendors selling red and white balloons. “Marketing gimmick”, is what he calls it all. I’m having second thoughts. I bump into classmates and upon asking what they were doing there… I get a “celebrating christmas!” out of them. I smirk and walk on.

*Scene shift – Today *
So what makes me blog about the whole thing?? Nothing major… this post is just a result of serious distaste, grave revulsion and grim disgust. Whoa! Why all these things?? Well for one, and I want to make it very clear that I have nothing against christmas whatsoever, when did the majority of our population turn catholic?? Second, if the statistics do support my argument, why are we celebrating the festival with such gaudy pomp?? Why the midnight wishes and christmas sale on the streets? In hope of reaching a satisfying answer, I make a few observations. Maybe the western culture/influence is fast catching up with us and is here to stay. Or maybe we are just a bunch of jovial, enthusiastic people looking for a reason to celebrate. Maybe a drop of the hat is a big enough reason for us to get together and commemorate.

PS. I had to go out the same day cause I was leaving town the next morning.
PPS. No, my intention is NOT to hurt the sentiments of any section/strata of the society. These are just my independent views and may be supported or neglected by some.
PPPS. I’m prissy and I know it.
PPPPS. My astonishment notwithstanding, I had a great day… all thanks to a highly ‘receptive’ company :)


18 Comments


interesting observation but u forgot to add one lil ordeal in the parking lot...and ya... i have one more of my points to make... the deal with the partying at the drop of a hat... see people are too busy throughout the week and on weekends they're usually too tired. So what better day than a holiday to get out... its just a bahana... and oh yea a marketing gimmick as well :P

Anonymous says:

It's just that Indians like celebrating nythng and everything!!
Amazing read!


@rakshit: the parking lot 'ordeal' deserves a separate post altogether! and you made another reasonable point man... quite true. keep visiting :)

@aneesha: right and thanks!


well u shud visit my blog... maybe i'll have it up tomorrow..


first things first
"fake santa" ? is there nething tht can be called a real santa ? :O
btw this post makes u sound so much like the shiv sainiks :P. Thackeray will be floored if he happens to read all this


well written.....glad to see that u r not one of the many who have been swept by the western culture...


@rakshit: right!

@arunabh: well yeah smartie, fine, all santas are fake X-(
And shiv sainiks or not... my view stays. You keep visiting and now that january is here, UPDATE YOUR BLOG!

@neha l: thanks neha, keep visiting :)


nice observation indeed ..... the good thing is it is boosting some social interaction which we have left behind on the path of westernization .. and very correctly pointed out that there are more things to cherish in a better way ... something more indian may be ... and which all can easily relate to ...
P.S: no reservations against/for anyone.

Anonymous says:

heylo dudette.. i waded thru the entire blogosphere n came up against ;) ya blog thru the link provided on arunabh's blog. man ! hez a prolific writer n so iz ya... well done !
but thn hey ! wotz the harm in celebratin sumthin like christmas wen all it ends up iz giving u a few eksstraaa moments of celebration in an otherwise dawl life :(
tink it over :)
~prachi


@sai: yup, interesting observation. thanks for dropping by dude!

@prachi: hey arunabh is making me a celebrity! yeah i get your point but dont you think we can celebrate over something more 'indian'... not get too 'inspired' by the western culture?!? I mean we are a nation of innovators... im sure we can come up with a million new reasons to celebrate! Why get so stuck up over christmas?? Beats me!
Anyway, thanks for dropping by and keep visiting!

Anonymous says:

@yashika
be grateful and make merry !!
the kingmaker was here

~kingmaker


@kingmaker: interesting!


Actually i m a bit late in dropping in ur blog...but better late than never...
as always its ur individuality that comes thru ur blog...
but ponder over one question...how do you define culture- can culture ever be static?? "Westernised" "Indianised" are quite arbitrary and vague terms...nowadays people in the supposed west are doing yoga and others think they have been greatly affected by we Indians...but how many Indians are actually doing yoga???
Culture and festivals have always been a group phenomena...and its always better to accept the changes that happen...hold on to ur own thinking but give space to others who want to change...
And especially India has survived till date because it accepts the varied views and cultures of the different sections..its the fundamentalists and people who want to hold on at any cost who are disintegrating the nation...what say??

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