Dussehra ’21 @home: A creative twist to festivities

Due to the pandemic, there are strict guidelines against public gatherings in the city and there are no big scale Dussehra celebrations taking place. However, denizens are indulging in DIY Ravana kits and other innovative ways to celebrate the festival.

Since the pandemic struck, it’s not wrong to say that gone are the days when one could witness huge Ravana effigies being burnt on the festival Dussehra; to mark the victory of good over evil. This year, with hardly any big effigies being ordered/made due to curb on celebrations at public places — keeping in mind Covid SOPs — there certainly isn’t much to do by going out for the festival. However, residents of Delhi-NCR, especially parents have taken it upon themselves to ensure that their young ones aren’t not devoid of the need to witness Dussehra celebrations and thus learn the significance of the beautiful learning behind it. So, from making DIY Ravana effigies at home, to reading books on Ramayana, they are doing it all to keep the kids abreast with the culture and tradition of this festival.

Since there are no Dussehra celebrations happening on a big scale this year, Denizens have devised innovative ways to celebrate the festival at home.

“We bought a DIY Ravana kit, and have spent the last few days working with it at home. We’ve even painted it and it’s all set to be lit up today,” says Noida-based Neha Dani, parent of a 10-year-old daughter named Anushree. She adds: “This year, my daughter will also write a bad habit that she wants to get rid off and we will put that in the fire while the Ravana is being lit up!” Isn’t that a thoughtful idea?

Well, that’s how knowledge about festivals can be passed on in an interesting manner. “Kids hardly take to unraveling our Indian mythology nowadays. But festivals are the time when we can teach them about the relevance of these tales that we have heard in our childhood and now it’s time to pass on that knowledge to the next generation, even if Covid-19 has posed challenges to us,” adds Dani. And Jahanvi Kabra, who has curated one such DIY Ravana kit, adds, “A lot of mothers have gone in for such DIY kits. We started getting orders for these about 20 days back, and we have till date sold about 700 of them, just in Delhi! Parents love these, and anyone above the age of two and a half years can actively participate in making it.”

Delhi-based party planner Swati Chirpal says many people have bought her pop up Ravana for the festivities.

Burning an effigy isn’t the only way chosen to mark the festivities. “My daughter loves festivals and she often writes poems or stories on them. So this Dussehra, since hardly any major celebrations are happening around the city, we have decided to sit together and do something creative,” says Ruchika Madan from Shalimar Bagh, adding: “We’ll either write a poem on Dussehra together or might paint. It’s important for kids to understand that Dussehra is the victory of good over evil and this activity will help do just that!”

“The 10 heads of Ravana signify his 10 bad qualities; and my son and I decided to make a craft on this,” says Heena Gandhi, from Paschim Vihar, adding: “My son, Saransh and I sat together and thought of 10 good qualities that he could imbibe after Dussehra. Since last two years, we haven’t been able to go out for Ravana dahan, so this why I decided to celebrate with my son.”

And Gurugram-based Priyanka Seth, who has two daughters aged five and six, plans to read stories on Ramayana with her children. “We’ve got a kids’ Ramayana book that we’ll re-read this Dussehra. Plus, I have books on goddess Kali and goddess Saraswati to read. I believe this activity will help introduce the festival to my girls and open the topic for discussion. Besides, there are plans to attempt crafts like making Ravana, and rangoli designs, etc.”

Moving a little away from the conventional celebration of burning a Ravana effigy is Delhi-based Swati Chirpal who has come up with a pop up Ravana. She says, “These are smoke-free Ravanas, for which all you need to do is pop them with a toothpick or a bow and arrow. We have also added effigies of Meghanad and Kumbhkaran, which are basically balloons with moustaches drawn on them. People have bought many of these from us to celebrate the festival, as well to gift these to their family members. The idea is that when mostly everything is dull and sad, due to the pandemic, we want to spread cheer while keeping the spirit of Dussehra alive.”

Author tweets @anjuri

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