Many of my girl friends have been discussing about how they planned & performed their “Karva Chouth” inspite of their hectic work schedules. Well I had nothing to add to their conversation, felt sort of left out! Actually I am married; infact quite happily married but never indulged in any such rituals. I don’t want to leave an impression that I don’t like Indian traditions or am not proud of it or anything just that is it not high time we think before we follow our traditions blindly?
As far as my knowledge goes, “Karva Chouth” fast is kept to wish for the well being/long life of your husband. Well, I pray for his well being everyday, for that matter I know we all pray for our family everyday. Karva chouth was practiced by women in an age when they were not working women & didn’t have any responsibilities other than the mundane domestic ones. Well times have changed for good now! We have been raised equally like our brothers, have been educated & work in a corporate world! How practical is it to fast for an entire day till the moon comes up when one has to show up at work at 7.30 am no matter what? Things should have changed with the changing time in Indian society, but we look confused allover. We want our girls to be engineers, pilots, astronauts & what not, but at the end of the day why do we act mentally weak? How efficiently can one perform at work if you fast for an entire day? We carry ipod’s in our bags & GPS navigator in our cars, but we participate in Karva Chouth, amitabh bacchan offers Rs 1 crore to Lord Tirupathi & Sachin Tendulkar undergoes some sort of “shanti pooja” to get rid of his ancestor’s sins! Culture & tradition are very sacred & should be preserved, but they should not be followed blindly. Beliefs should change with times, with us learning science! If we should fast, we donate a day’s meal saved to some poor kid who sleeps on the floor of his hut with stomach half empty almost everyday! Possibly; what can be achieved with us dressing up in some designer salwar suit/saree, flaunting fancy jewelry & waiting for the moon to show up? Karva Chouth is just another occasion which I picked on, but we Indians perform so many of such traditions blindly in every nook & corner of our country. We are smart, intelligent, brave & good hearted people, is it not high time we initiate some activities to bring about a positive change in our mindset/ society?
