There is a recurring discussion each time it is Lohri time here in Delhi – is this a real festival, why aren’t more people celebrating it or is this just a bonfire that makes people come together? For me, the cheerfulness is essentially about the bonfire thing. In a way, it is the perfect recipe – winter season and the opportunity to light-up a bonfire in metropolitan locales that are inhumanly low on person-to-person interactions, where running into each other seems like a mishap. Lohri carries the aura of coziness in the most literal sense. For the more dedicated Lohri enthusiast, this bonfire is like a beacon of sustaining sub-cultures that are in stark contrast to the city pattern that compartmentalizes and mechanizes our life.
During my childhood, if we weren’t the ones raising a small fire, anyone doing so around us would magnetize curious-eyed children and young adults. Lohri was never positioned as a God-specific festival and hence, the scale of celebrations too is restricted. Still, the bonfire can bring people together, helping them break walls of miscommunication and putting an end to patterns of egoistically avoiding each other. For the selfie-gen, this is a celebration of something rustic, still somewhat pure that is almost lost in a digital environment where humanized interactions are governed by Likes, Tweets, Status Updates and a Ping…#HappyLohri2018
January 24, 2018 Update: it is getting cold again in Delhi. Just about perfect for what Me & Moha were planning with the twigs saved from our first Lohri bonfire. Will try my best to search for an empty planter sort of thing to light-up one final time in 2018. Hoping to catch-up on some Old Monk and Ginger Tea, slowly...one sip at a time!
During my childhood, if we weren’t the ones raising a small fire, anyone doing so around us would magnetize curious-eyed children and young adults. Lohri was never positioned as a God-specific festival and hence, the scale of celebrations too is restricted. Still, the bonfire can bring people together, helping them break walls of miscommunication and putting an end to patterns of egoistically avoiding each other. For the selfie-gen, this is a celebration of something rustic, still somewhat pure that is almost lost in a digital environment where humanized interactions are governed by Likes, Tweets, Status Updates and a Ping…#HappyLohri2018
January 24, 2018 Update: it is getting cold again in Delhi. Just about perfect for what Me & Moha were planning with the twigs saved from our first Lohri bonfire. Will try my best to search for an empty planter sort of thing to light-up one final time in 2018. Hoping to catch-up on some Old Monk and Ginger Tea, slowly...one sip at a time!
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