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Keeping the spirit alive
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If the festival of light is steeped in nostalgia for the older generation, Gen Next's is all about having a blast, METROPLUS learns
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DEEPAVALI CELEBRATIONS have come a long way from being in-house affairs where the day started off with the traditional oil bath. They have now turned into days when youth let their hair down in style.
This generation of youth is waiting to have a blast, but differently. Films continue to be an integral part of the Deepavali routine. What seems to have changed is the manner of celebration. "Earlier, we used to send e-greetings to our friends. Now, it is SMS and chat. Using picture editor, we design Deepavali greetings and forward them," say R. Arun Kumar, a final year engineering student of Coimbatore Institute of Technology, and his friends.
Tech-savvy greetings
If your mobile network is clogged on D-day, you'll now know why. "Normally, I send about 100 SMSs a day. But on Deepavali, it will be easily more than 400 SMSs," says S. S. Naveen, another engineering student. His cell-savvy friends across the city are also looking at celebrating similarly.
For some, it's time to catch up with old pals. "I visit my school friends and spend the day with them. I also send e-greetings to friends living in distant places," states V. M. Narendran, who works with a software firm in the city. Friends seem to have taken the place of relatives when it comes to socialising. Gone are the ritual visits to family elders; friends matter more. For Sriram, Deepavali is the time to hang out with friends. Last year, they burst crackers. This time around, his friends, numbering around 40, have decided to stay off firecrackers. Instead, they are planning to sit through a routine oil bath, visit to a nearby temple and relax with a matinee show of one of the Deepavali releases (this time it's the Simbu- Jyothika starrer Manmadhan) and it's friends all the way.
"Earlier we used to distribute sweets to neighbourhood, now our parents take care of it," they say.
Dinner time is again spent with friends, in a hotel. For Gayathri, a student of Mass Communication, Deepavali is the time to watch interesting programmes on TV, burst crackers and spend time with relatives and friends. "All my friends are in the IT industry. So, it is only during Deepavali that we get to talk for hours together. And, of course, who can forget the delicacies coming out from my mother's kitchen. This time it poli, paal payasam and sandesh." As for crackers, they are just a `customary affair'. "We used to burst a lot of crackers. Now, it is just to mark the occasion," they add.
Generation gap?
In all this rush to meet friends, the ones feeling left out are the parents and grandparents. "In our times, Deepavali meant getting up at an unearthly hour, bathing and rushing to light the first cracker in the street. After a traditional breakfast of idli, it was time to visit members of the extended family and visit neighbours with a sweet-filled tray," recalls Usha, a grandmother of five.
"TV has spoilt everything. No one has the time for anyone anymore. Even the thrill of buying clothes for Deepavali has gone. For children in middle class families, this was one of the few occasions when they would get new clothes. Easy availability of everything has taken the excitement away," she regrets.
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