Desolate Dashain

RRS

As a person grows up and becomes adult, s/he gradually loses all joys and innocence of childhood. Days and moments spent during the juvenile time make one nostalgic of distant years that tweak as well as excite the aging body. Poet DM W rightly says ‘Childhood is a time, when innocent eyes scan all aspects of the world, and perceive Truth and Beauty.’ This is a reason why almost everyone is nostalgic of yesteryears, especially of childhood. In childhood, everyone is carefree and naive unlike an adult, who is mostly tied by any stressful tasks. 

Romantic poet William Wordsworth calls child as ‘father of the Man’, denoting that childhood experiences shape human beings as they are getting old. The poet is always reminiscent of youthful years in his verses: ‘And I could wish my days to be/bound each to each by natural piety … The childhood memories strongly gush during Dashain that is often a thrilling trip down memory lane. For kids and young people, Dashain is truly a blissful time because parents are there to fulfil their almost every demand. Even a small dose of tantrums and idiosyncrasies of children is acceptable for their parents.

As people head towards a mature age, their familial role changes drastically. It is perhaps cycle of a life. Once a toddler, s/he now becomes a parent and sweats for the happiness of offspring. So does Dashain. Our joys knew no bounds when parents used to buy new clothes and managed he-goat for the whole family. Putting on new clothes and chomping meat were the special features of Dashain for us. But this pleasantry markedly fades away when the role shifts. 

Parents always see and treat their descendants as small children no matter how old they are. Those who are living with parents are lucky enough, especially during the festivals like Dashain. There is one phase of life in which one has started earning money but is yet to enter the nuptial knot. Parents are over the moon as their sons/daughters buy clothes and other gifts for them from their first earnings. The siblings, too are overwhelmed by a feeling of utter contentment.

There is also an ecstatic period when one enjoys love and affection of parents while at the same time s/he is taking care of your own kids as a parent. This is indeed a wonderful time for a family with three generations of people having reunion and sharing happiness. But as the family is getting fragmented owing to the growing trend of out-migration  abroad in search of opportunities of employment and study or permanently settling there, it has virtually become impossible for the three generations to rejoice a moment under one roof. 

As this scribe feels, Dashain turns bland for those whose parents have already shuffled off this mortal coil. The worst is here: you have neither parents nor progenies in time of Dashain. The melancholic moment forces you to be nostalgic of 'childhood', which poet John Betjeman says ‘is measured out by sounds, smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.’