A Festive Rangoli

"Rang" means color.  Rangoli refers to a dance of colors symbolizing joy and happiness, and a blend of cultures and traditions in celebrating various Hindu festivals.  These intricate folk art decorations are typically hand drawn with colored rice powder at the doorstep or in the courtyard of homes.  They are considered sacred and auspicious in bringing good fortune to our lives.  With the various festivals like Navratri, Durga Puja, Dusshera and Diwali knocking on our doors this month, I chose this as means of bringing good wishes to the birthday girl.
An eggless mild pineapple flavored cake with banana and vanilla custard filling was the calling of the day.

It is a fact that the sense of smell can trigger human memory.  What I did not know was that certain words or phrases can do the same as well.  Just recently I came across a mention of "shiuli phool"(parijaat flower) in an online post.  It immediately brought back a flood of memories from my childhood.  Wet autumn mornings, my grandmother's home, a courtyard showered with tiny white and orange flowers and myself in the middle of it, stooping down with delight to pick up as many as I could to fill my tiny bowl.  Then there was that occasional prickly caterpillar that would sometimes cause a nuisance...Ohhh...how I wish life could be that simple and sweet again...Why is it that I could find heavenly bliss in a simple act as that and have to conscientiously strive to be happy now?  What do we lose when we grow up?  What is it that takes up the place of simple delights, small pleasures and mundane happiness to make us so stressed in our lives today? 

Our genes don't change and since cognitive studies claim that happiness is halfway genetic in nature it means that we have a 50-50 chance of taking glee in the fun things of life again, like: walking barefeet on the grass, picking flowers from our garden, throwing a ball in a field and wanting to savor the festivals as they come without worrying about the tasks left un-done.  So, if you feel the way I do, I say, let's join hands to welcome celebrations be it now or at another time, be it Diwali or Christmas...let's just pick up where we left glee behind and grin away.  Always.