I don’t believe in the caste system. At least that is what I like to believe. I do believe in the varna vyavastha, to the extent it is not hereditary.
But the varna vyavastha is indeed hereditary and hence what I say is indeed dichotomous. But I still clarify as I use the word Baniya in this piece and I am not alluding to any caste in particular.
I say this, quite so much in the perspective of Deepawali. In my high-school, I had read in my book of short essays, that Raksha Bandhan was patronized more by Brahmanas, Dussehra / Vijayadashmi was a festival of Kshatriyas as it symbolized victory in war, Diwali of Baniyas and lastly Holi of the shudras. Whether, the rest belong there where my high school essay book decreed them to be or not, Diwali is clearly a bania festival, not in as much as it marks the onset a new business year of the trading communities as in the flirtatious and flamboyant demeanor of its celebration.
One thing that is very cute about Hindu families is the multiplicity of faiths that live in the ambit of one culture system, one value system and one house. So ours in not an exception, with my father being a devout devi bhakt, my mother a shaiva, I with inclinations toward Ram, but funnily enough, all under the over arching penumbra of Vedic Arya Samaj. So, havan / yagna - invocations with the chanting of mantras around the sacrificial fire is a ritual that is practiced by us on all important festivals and even birthdays.
Today, if you would ask me, I would not know 95 pct of the Indian festivals. Even those that are national in significance and not regional. The only festivals that the generations with higher disposal income (DI) know are the shopping festivals. Nevertheless, I with Gizmo addicted kids (GAKs) do sit down to perform the yagna at Diwali. When we do so, we feel just like Vishwamitra would have with all asuras trying to obstruct the offering by their staccato bursts of fire-crackers and rockets.
The noise element seems to be rising unabaited with every passing diwali. It seems to do so in direct proportion to the DI factor. Despite Supreme Court, which while disposing off a writ petition made pro-bono in public interest set the limit of noise at 140 db at 4 mtrs from the site of burst, and other government directions, the Baniya enthusiasm sees no limits and its noisy expression of its festive mood seems never to ebb.
One rocket landed just 10 ft away from the ritual fire. Rockets are banned by a High Court. But my father leading the chanting plodded on un-dettered, just like Vishwamitra would have, saving the fact, that there was no Ram guarding the yagna from the asuras, and here in our case, we were at the mercy of 100 – the emergency number - at which a festival fatigued force we knew would find the complain too frivolous to respond or even take cognizance of.
In a lately liberated society, the definition of freedom takes a while to evolve. In the times of yore, when India was an advanced civilization, even kings’ rights and freedoms were checked by the council and also self imposed restraints. But in a civilization which is evolving, the definition of freedoms are also evolving. A free for all mindset does not see noise as infringing another persons freedom, but merely as a expression of his own freedom. More than noise, what peeves me is the spontaneous degeneration of this noise into rowdiness. The Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Mumbai are a case in point.
The local laws of the Montgomery County Noise Control Ordinance imposes “quiet hours”, in which noise prone loading and unloading is also prohibited. But for us to get there, it will take lot of public will and prudent legislation.
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