Dussehra days !!!

A festival which is most nostalgic to me other than any is the magic Dussehra days...
Let me try to capture it in chronological order :-
* Came to know of Dussehra through the mega hit TV serial of the 80s - Ramayana
* So that meant going to watch the Durga Puja celebrations and Ravana's effigy bonfire ,cracker works at Central School..Shaktinagar..most of the time.
*Pehli baar gas wala balloon yehi se liya tha (hmmm...remember so much)
*Have never been lucky to watch a Ram leela for a long time in person
*We used to have many half yearly exams in school ending by Dussehra.So this was a big break after the slog overs :).College mein to koi exam ..exam lagta hi nahi tha...it was more of funtime.
*Navaratri concept---came very late..but still if u r getting delicious food to eat and respected so much..that's the best part of it
*Went to Patna once at Durga Puja time.Person from a small town going to a city.Was the same with me.Patna delighted with so many kind of pratimas ..from the regular ones..to a maakhan ki pratimaa (that was kept in AC so that it didn't melt) ,tel ki pratima (strong in concept) ,sabun ki pratima,mom ki pratima (ab koi cheez to rehne do )
*Miss.... Benaares days and durga puja there..Ramnagar ki ramleela is world famous..(sab fame ki peeche hi hain)
*Went to my native village once.Again got awed by the small town guy going to ur village.Was a great experience to see my roots and the rituals.
*Went to Nepal once,new country ,new customs there..some of which might not be heard of.
*Tanda ramleela..typical of UP style ones and the way ravana's effigy is burnt with the help of basket ball stand's support(the jugaad)
*Sultanpur days..gr8 days..ghar jaane ki jaldi after midsems
*Mysore days..watt lagi thi...generic compre pass karni thi
*Bangalore days..yahaan to koi festival josh se manaate hi nahi hain..ajeeb shahar hai..its more on style and theme than anything...

But still I am happy, for the Good always wins ...