The Festive Spirit

Wherever he looked, Ramesh saw hoardings and advertisements of electronics, clothing, food and everything under the sun. The beginning of the festive season was when the whole world eagerly awaited the chance to splash and splurge, while he dreaded it. Shops overflowed with goods and people. 

Whatever he earned was never enough, not with six mouths to feed, shelter, clothe, educate, and treat for ailments. The festive bonus he’d received was sent to the village to help his sister’s family who were having a harder time than him, with a second consecutive year of drought. There was no question of having that extra money to buy new clothes and treats.

As he entered home he could hear his 8 year old son complaining to his wife when she reprimanded him for constantly pestering her for a pair of denim pants. “But aai, it's just not that special time of the year without new clothes! You know all my friends get new clothes for the festival!”

Ramesh called out, “Come here, Kunal. Tell your friends, it's not THAT time of the year by just wearing new clothes. It is THAT time of the year to be kind and generous. Do you know because of our little help, Anu athya’s family will have enough to eat for this whole month? If we had bought new clothes, they would all be sleeping on empty stomachs. Won't they be glad to have enough to eat and bless us? 
We will be going to the village for the festival. You will have plenty of fun with Varsha and Ajay lighting hundreds of diyas that kumbhari kaka makes.”

The child was thrilled to hear this. Ramesh continued, “And you know what? No one in the village has seen your clothes, anything you wear there will look new to them! Now that you both have grown so tall, you can collect some of your old clothes and toys and give it to the village children, they’ll be so happy to receive it. Now run along.” Kunal excitedly dragged in his younger sibling who was playing outside.

Ramesh exchanged a look of relief with his wife as they watched their two boys rummaging in the old trunk holding their belongings, searching for things to gift their lesser fortunate village friends.

Featured Image

Glossary
aai - mother
athya - aunt - father's sister
diyas - earthern lamps
kumbhari kaka - potter uncle

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Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

- Buddha

I am participating in the #WordsMatter Bloghop. The prompt this time was "It's not that time of the year without..."

I received this tag from Mahati Ramya at Fantastic Feathers. It’s my pleasure to pass on this tag to Suchita Agarwal at Tales of Suchita. There are 38 of us on this Blog Hop and it will be spread over 3 days – 4, 5, 6 October  2019. Do follow the #WordsMatter Blog Hop and prepare to be surprised!

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