Dashain

Dashain carries strange vibes. At one level, it is invariably about meat: goat, buffalo, chicken, duck..So the festivities is preceded by the activity of animals in captivity. Goats are being dropped from the hoods of buses held by their horns, goats bleating in agony, a prelude to carnage that awaits the butcher shop or the front yard of a village house with a patch of grass cleared just for this purpose or a temple with priest applying stuff and making rounds around the animal in an attempt to please the higher beings for who knows what. Butcher shops in cities bustle after Astami. Young men work extra hours slaughtering one animal after another, chopping them into pieces and filling in the extravagant orders of enthusiastic customers. If you roam around, you will be visited by spicy/meaty odor wafting out of kitchens where dead animals are now being tinkered for the palates of a more evolved animal species which prefers not to eat them raw. 

Our carnivorous appetite is indeed at a full throttle during Dashain. The more courageous amongst us who do not cave into these carnivorous impulses and rather rely on herbs, shrubs and trees, I wonder, what they think of us who are growling with an appetite for meat. 

However, it is not just about meat. Dashain is, perhaps, also the epicenter of family celebrations and festivities that dances the childhood memories. We were denied the celebrations for almost a decade by the violent conflict: we were never really free to prance around expressing our own animalistic nature because, everyday, we were reminded of how cruel an animal we had turned into. 

Finally, we have started going back to the routine. When nearly 2 millions are leaving Kathmandu during Dashain, it does indicate that Dashain is reawakening. We hope that it dances the memories of our children just like it did in ours. And it is also a lesson we have learned the hard way: We don't need the prosperity when bloodshed is justified as the only way to achieve it, what we really need is the protection from that stupidity prevailing our daily lives and discourse. 

Happy Dashain to all!