Reminiscing Tihar

KATHMANDU, Nov 7: Tihar is a happy festival. Lights and flowers make the atmosphere invigorating, and with people of all ages singing and dancing to different tunes, there’s happiness in the air. At the same time, Tihar is also about strengthening the bond between brothers and sisters, worshipping our dogs for their friendship and loyalty, and welcoming Goddess Laxmi into our homes.

There are just too many things to look forward to, and too many memories associated with this festival to look back on. As the festival of light approaches, five young people share their favorite Tihar memories.

Manita Shrestha, 18
High School graduate from Bridgewater International College

Some years back during Tihar, I and some of my cousins decided to experiment with firecrackers. The plan was to place one pataka at the bottom of a bowl and light it in order to measure how high the bowl would fly. It all felt very interesting and harmless to us. So in the evening we excitedly implemented our plan. The bowl ended up flying really high and later landed right upon my uncle’s head, who was igniting diyo downstairs. Startled, my uncle looked around and yelled at the open sky asking for who dared hit him? All our mouths were tightly shut out of fear. Upon hearing nothing, he concluded that the neighbors next door must’ve targeted the bowl towards his poor head. Afterwards while having dinner he told us the little incident he had with the bowl. Unable to suppress our laughter, my uncle got angry with us for not having any sympathy towards him. We then revealed to him our mischief behind the mysterious bowl. Thanks to his good sense of humor, he too laughed alongside us.

Aman Maharjan, 22
Student at Nepal Law Campus

I won’t be able to pick just one favorite memory of Tihar for there are too many. My favorite one, however, will always be my naughty cousin sister bowing to my feet on the day of Bhai Tika. Having fought with her numerous times for an entire year, I would gladly put my feet forward on that day while she bowed down, scowling. I have stopped playing Deusi for some years now, but I used to enjoy doing that a lot, along with my friends. We didn’t even miss the opportunity to make money during Bhailo, which is supposedly meant for girls. Mha puja remains a beautiful experience, too. However, my memory of it has always remained vague for it happens late in the evening, and I’m mostly too sleepy to worship myself meticulously.

Suresh Mukhiya, 25
Sub-editor at Dream Nepal

One Tihar, all of us in the family were busy preparing for the worship of Goddess Laxmi. In the meantime, a bunch of kids appeared outside and joyously started singing the ‘Deusi re’ chorus. After they finished, I teased them by asking what they were there for. They mocked me back by saying they were here playing Deusi and how could I have not known something as simple. I explained to them that Deusi was meant to be for boys and them being girls were supposed to play Bhailo instead. To this, they started scratching their head and a moment later, a little boy came to the front and said, “Uncle, I’m a boy over here!” Their innocence mesmerized me. After all they are the real face of Tihar, aren’t they?

Ashmita Karki, 17
Student at St Xavier’s College

Tihar is my favorite time of the year because I love how beautiful the atmosphere is, thanks to millions of little flickering lights and flowers adding charm to everything. The past two years of Deusi Bhailo have been really memorable because I, along with all of my classmates, went together for the program. We surprised many of our teachers by showing up to their places, unannounced. We also went to random strangers’ homes, and if they didn’t respond to our melodious Deusi Bhailo chorus, we would light a dozen firecrackers and run away before they got hold of us. We did the same at someone’s house last year, but a friend of ours ended up burning his hair and his eyebrows in the process of lighting the firecrackers. It wasn’t funny, but we couldn’t help laughing. His hair smelled funny for days!

Surendra Kumar Shahi, 23
Student at Kantipur City College

A year ago in Jumla, my hometown, I along with my friends went for the annual Deusi program. Since I’m not much of a singer, I resorted to playing madal. After a while, some of the jealous ones in the group couldn’t settle with just me playing madal in the group; they too wanted to play the musical instrument. Little annoyed with the attitude they showed towards me, I nonetheless handed over the instrument to them. After sometime, the heated environment cooled down and we all danced and sang. The reason for why this incident remains a memorable one for me is because I learnt a lesson from it. I was amused as to how easily a joyous environment became polluted with a little dispute. But at the same time, I also realized how forgiving we actually are; maybe it was also because of the festive energy around, that we soon forgot the disagreement and enjoyed along with everyone around us.

(source: www.myrepublica.com)