A Never-Ending Love Affair

It’s not always new experiences that exhilarate us. Sometimes, a recurrence of what we’ve enjoyed several times in the past can drive us to the same state of euphoria! One of such love affairs for me, year after year, has been the Surajkund Mela. The same month of February, the same dates, the same place, the same dusty parking lot, the same madness at the ticket counter, the same stalls, the same artisans from across the country, the same jostling crowd, the same food and the same scampering for a place to sit while we eat. Yet, I love it; yet it gives me a high! The splash of colours, the reverberating amphitheatre, the resounding ‘nagada’, artists and people dancing with joy, couples holding hands and walking, husbands looking on as the wives bargain, fathers walking with their kids on piggy back, women from neighbouring villages dressed in their finest jhak-mak sarees for a day out at the mela – this annual festival is a complete ‘joie de vivre’; a celebration of life!

But for now, I sit here brooding; reliving this two year old memory, mollifying myself that it’s okay for not being able to make it this year!