uttarayan- the prince of all festivals

Today's post is obviously about uttarayan. Two days of complete joy,thrill, excitement, celebration & togetherness. Thinking philosophically, the kite & the string represent our body & mind respectively. It shows us that if we can control our body's physical instincts by our mind, we can fly high in our life. But this require strong will-power just like the kite requires strong string to remain unbeaten in the sky. If we have a healthy body and a strong mind, we can give our character such height that no one dare to pull us down & even anyone cuts down our string, our character should not get affected. We should fly the new kite with the same string unaffected by previous defeat.The kite may go up or down but the spirit should always remain high forever. Leaving apart the philosophical aspect, the festival itself is a carnival of joy & happiness. This 14th January was no different at all. It started with flying kites at my childhood house at Pragatinagar. Though very few kites are flown there on an average, the thrill of being on the terrace of the house where we spent the most memorable part of our life-our childhood- was special & my mind was clouded with some nostalgic moments. Watching your childhood friends & neighbours who have grown up considerably in size,shape & structure was a moving experience. At noon we went to my cousin Divyam's house. Being together with the Lovely Cousin Group is in itself an event, & if it's on festival like uttarayan, then it becomes a special one. The wind was down but we still enjoyed by playing "Ghasarkatta". We LCG people don't need reason to enjoy, we just create it! The lunch was fantastic. Thanks Minufoiba & Hiral for your efforts. The evening we spent on my dear friend Dr.Manish Joshi's terrace. Kites were followed by bites! Flying followed by food! Thanks Joshi for the amazing dinner especially the "Khichado"! Frankly speaking, I'm not an expert kite-flier. Still I enjoyed this uttarayan the most. The reason is obvious. When you've spent the whole day enjoying with your childhood surroundings, family, relatives, neighbours, friends, brothers & sisters; the people you love the most;what else do you require to have fun? In my opinion, if Diwali is the King of festivals & Navratri the Queen, the Uttarayan is the Prince of all the festivals. Though it is considered as the festival of youth, but in fact it is the festival of all the ages. We could see that literally when me,my father & my son Marmik were on the terrace at the same time looking at the sky for the flying kites! The Vaasi Uttarayan we spent at Naroda, my in laws house. That was no less fun than Uttarayan. Again it was a famous combination of furious flying followed by fantastic food. The evening was the time for the magnificent display of fireworks along with the Tukkalbaji & dance parties on terrace. The youth has given this festival a whole new look. The kites & lights, the colours & crackers, the dinner & dance! Where can you get to enjoy such range of fun filled activities on the same day in a single festival?If Navratri is the face of Gujarat, then Uttarayan is the face of Ahmedabad. If any one has ever enjoyed the Uttarayan of Ahmedabad, I'm sure he'll going to remember that for his lifetime! We're lucky to have festivals like Uttarayan.I love Uttarayan because I love celebration. I love Ahmedabad because I love life. I love Gujarat because this is the land where life is a celebration itself! This is the Vibrant Gujarat! जय जय गर्वी गुजरात!