Spirit of Lohri dwindling with time

Tribune News Service 

Jalandhar, January 13

The messages with hash tags on twitter, facebook and WhatsApp might have flooded people with the wishes on Lohri but the  excitement and tradition with which it used to be celebrated earlier has got diminished. 

Bonfires, ‘gachak’, ‘rewari’, mungafali (peanut) and a traditional song ‘Sundar Manudariye’, all are the important rituals of the North India’s festival. 

However, with time, all these things have faded, and have got replaced by modern ways of celebrating the festival. 

Gone are the days when students, children would ask for Lohri from their neighbourhood and they would sing the songs on Lohri and when one would deny to give it, the children would often say, ‘Hukka bhi hukka, eh ghar bhukha’. 

Now DJ is must at every festival and without that, the youngsters feel that the festival has not got completed. 

The elderly feel that next generation would not even know about the festival anymore as for last many years, they are watching the traditions losing under the garb of modernisation. 

Raman Kant, a principal of the government school said it was not a good feeling to see that today’s generation is unaware of the actual traditions linked with the festival. 

“In our childhood, we used to visit the places to ask for gachak, rewaris, which are the essentials on the festival,” he said. 

According to the information, the children would go and steal the woods ahead of the festival and it used to be an accepted norm. 

But now, the families have gone micro and the youngsters mostly do not prefer to light the fire and sit with their family members, instead they want to go outside to clubs and organise DJ parties. 

“The children must be taught about their traditions, values and ethics and customs, despite of sending and sharing the messages and videos on virtual world, they must realise that it’s important in the real world. It is not acceptable when we see that those times are not coming back,” said an elderly.

“The fire has got faded with time and it is really upsetting,” said another resident, who was sitting around a bonfire in the morning.

Ram Lal (75), a retired government school teacher, said Lohri was celebrated in remembrance of “Dulla Bhatti” who had saved two girls Sundari and Mundari but a few would only know about it.