A Happiness Quotient with the festival season

The festive season has arrived driving up the happiness quotient all across. Every household in India is getting ready to celebrate it. After all Festivals are fun. In one of the Bengali households, the entire family has gone on a shopping spree before the Durga puja to buy new dresses. Mom, dad, daughter and son are thrilled and looking forward to that 5-day non-stop extravaganza. Kids will take few days off from the school while dad has also planned a couple of days off from office. The daughter is all set to give a dance performance while the son will be on guitar in his rock band.

In another household, festivity has started just after Shradh. Everybody is keeping a fast on the first day of the Navratras. The house is well stocked with kuttu ka atta, sabudana, rock salt and aloo ke chips (Potato wafers). The Aloo ke chips are in 2 different flavour – the plain ones and the fiery red ones which makes life uncomfortable the next morning. Eggs have vanished from the refrigerator shelf. The stock of chicken and mutton cold cuts have been exhausted. The next 9 days the kitchen will give entry only to the vegetable worshipers.

Festivals are fun and they increase the happiness quotient

Festivities have started and you can smell it in the air. This is the time of the year when the happiness quotient of families celebrating it to the consumer goods companies involved in selling is the highest. The only category where the happiness quotient is negative is automobile.

So, how do you make out that the happiness quotient is high during the festivals and how people are having fun during festivals?

Dressing up for the occasion

The lady of the house is just counting the number of occasions she has to dress up in this entire one-month period. 5 evenings of Navratras and Durga Puja, 1 for Karva Chauth, 1 for Diwali. Add to this the 4-5 card parties and the number crosses 10. The saree wardrobe is being grilled every day. All hangars are being inspected one by one. Last Diwali pictures are scanned so as to avoid duplication. After all her friends have got a good memory and they know each saree from her collection by heart.

The next step is the most difficult. Selection of a matching blouse. The ones which were stitched originally have shrunk in size. After all, with a high happiness quotient there are structural changes in the main framework. A tailor is required on an urgent basis. An alteration tailor comes to the rescue. Meanwhile the sarees need some vitamin D and are sun dried to get rid of the naphthalene smell.

The spouse doesn’t face such hang-ups. He has 2 set of pyjama-kurtas which are going to witness the 4^th chapter of Diwali since they came in his life. Rather than investing in a new attire, he is more concerned about stocking his bar. After all, he has to host 2-3 parties this Diwali. One for office friends, one for school-college friends and the last but not the least one for his family.

Foodies are the ones who enjoy the most

Festivals are great time for people who are born foodies. Just like we love to dress up during the festivities, similarly our kitchen gets dressed up to give the best output of the year. The menu is elaborate. Urad ki kachori, Aloo ke rase ki sabzi, Mattar paneer, Zeera pulao, Dahi-bhalla, Rice kheer and the list goes on (please excuse the author for a certain bias as the dishes mentioned are of a typical Kayastha family to which the author belongs). The dishes vary from Navratras and Dussehra, to Karva Chauth and Diwali. In a Kayastha kitchen making mutton on the day of Dussehra is a must.

People who are on Intermittent fasting are looking for an Interval. On the other hand, the ones who still have to get their blood test done decide that they will postpone it for 3 weeks. The diagnostic labs are happy as they know that the day festivity gets over, their volume of business will just double.

Increasing your happiness quotient with festival sweets

The sweetness quotient is another factor which adds to the happiness quotient. This is the season when Haldirams, Bikanerwala, Agarwal Sweet corner have an extended counter at all their outlets. Baked Rasgulla, Sandesh and Mishti dahi are the favourites at Puja time while Meethi mathari is a must on Karva Chauth. The Diwali menu is slightly elaborate. Kaju Katli, Barfi, Kalakand, Rasgulla, Gulab jamun score high on popularity charts.

One way to judge how popular you are on a friends list is by opening the sweet box your friend gifted on Diwali. If you discover Kaju Katli in the box, you score high on his chart and if by any chance it is sonpapdi then you need to ask for his forgiveness.

The season of socialising

Navratras means it is time for dandiya. A 9-day programme of dancing with friends and family on Gujarati, Punjabi and Bollywood songs. I have not attended one in Gujarat but I believe dandiya socialising is also used as a live Tinder app. But it is the most look forward event for people in Gujarat.

Durga Puja warms up from the 5^th day and you can see families moving in group from one pandal to another. There is so much warmth that you want the puja should continue for another week. Ladies are in their best attire. Husbands are in their traditional kurta – pyjama. The evenings are for cultural performance especially by kids. And the Arti time is the most auspicious one. Just one look at the Durga idol and you feel that your sins have been forgiven. The climax is the on the 10^th day also known as Sindoor khela. Seeing the ladies playing it you feel that you are blessed to be born in this country.

Diwali is the peak festival for socialising. People start visiting friends and families a week in advance with gifts and sweets. With so much socialising the traffic also peaks. Card parties are in full swing. Ladies look brighter than diyas while husbands after couple of drinks start bursting like crackers. It’s a separate issue that the ones cracking the loudest get doused with water just by one stare from the spouse.

The concluding chapters of Diwali

Bhai Duj and Chatth festivals are the 2 last concluding chapters of the festive season. Bhai Duj, an extension of Rakhi, a festival which opens the festive innings is the one which leads to the conclusion of the festive innings. Chatth which has gained in popularity recently in cities like Delhi (It is a festival of Bihar) is all about praying to the Sun God.

My prayer is that whether festivals or no-festivals, just keep the happiness quotient high.This is the only quotient which will give you good results after the blood reports. So, for the moment just don’t bother too much about the day-to-day stress. Just keep your happiness quotient high.

Cheers and a Happy Diwali!