JOIN USCelebrating festivals, something everyone looks forward to, is a great way to make memories. Whether it is with family or friends, the time spent together speaks volumes.
To kick off the celebrations, many Bengalureans are packing their bags to spend time away from the city. A few are also travelling with their parents to their hometowns.
Ritu Kurtakoti, a copywriter, is looking forward to spending time with her grandparents in Belagavi. She says, “I’m travelling there with my parents for a traditional ‘Deepavali’ celebration. It has been long since I met my grandparents and I’m looking forward to being pampered by them.”
She says this journey is going to be special as many of her cousins will also be there. “We used to make bursting crackers something like a community event when I was around five.
But we stopped that more than a decade ago. Now we light up the house with ‘diyas’, draw ‘rangoli’ and dress up. Though the celebration seems simple, leaving the city and going to a cooler place makes all the difference,” Ritu adds.
Aakash and Sidhima Jacob are travelling to Chandigarh for the weekend. Aakash says, “It has become a yearly tradition get away during ‘Deepavali’ and see a different side of the celebrations. Since there are many interesting places close to Chandigarh, we will try to make time to go there as well. Last year, we went to Shimla and enjoyed the weather and street food.”
Since Chandigarh is her hometown, Sidhima looks forward to visiting her ancestral house. She says, “The day before the actual celebration is dedicated to various things — cleaning, buying something new and so on. It’s a lot of fun decorating the house and hanging out with family members we don’t get to see often.”
Surender Sundar, an MBBS student, is thrilled to be able to travel to Salem for a couple of days. He says, “My cousins and I look forward to meeting each other and having a great time.”
His favourite part of going there is to indulge in the dishes unique to the region.
“There’s a delicacy that like a Kerala ‘parota’. Whenever I go there, it is my staple food. Since the traffic and roads are also much better than the city, it gives you a relaxed feel.”
While most are travelling to their hometowns, Shashank B N, a delivery control engineer, has a different family tradition. He explains, “My parents’ friends and cousins plan a trip each year. We drive down to the location. The planning usually starts a week in advance, but this year we planned it out a month ahead.” Having decided on Hyderabad, Shashank is looking forward to sampling th e authentic ‘biryani’ there. “The first time we went to Hyderabad — several years ago — we ordered plates of ‘biryani’ for each of us. Little did we know that a single plate would be enough to feed more than one!” he laughs.
Asked how this tradition started, he says, “Growing up, we used to spend almost Rs 10,000 for buying crackers. Over the years, we realised that this was not wise and decided to spend that money on travel instead. So this became a tradition we look forward to each year.”