Tomorrow is Dasara. Why is it celebrated? There are multiple, literally epic, answers to that question. It was the day the Kauravas' defeat began so to say as the Pandavas declared their incognito existence null and void, resumed their weapons, and thus forged a return to their promise to Draupadi to avenge her public disgrace. According to yet another version, the day celebrated the decisive win over the ten-faced Ravana , the 'Dash-hara'.
What is the meaning of the festival now, in the twenty-first century? In the post-Covid phase, it could mean slaying the demon of bad habits such as public spitting, the devil of careless, casual ignorance of the norms in the milling millions. In the public sphere, it would mean slaying the indifference to the public health system which collapsed miserably in the second wave.
Personally, though, I feel that the festival means much more. Sure it is overcoming the Ravana. Who is the Ravana? Yes, there are bad people out there whom the devil, too, would be ashamed to call his own. Yes, such horrors would try to make the lives of innocent, straightforward people in to a morass. How then to overcome their boast of " wat laga di", that is, their conscious attempt to destroy the prospects of a good person? I would say the best way out is winning over the anger, the despair, the frustration due to such constrictions. The evil around can then have no effects. The true Celebration of Dasara is thus!
Pratima@winning over oneself is the real fight, the real win
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