Report by Renuka Kaul
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Heyrath Mubarak!
eyrath or “Maha Shivraatri” as it is popularly known as, is celebrated with great devotion by Hindus in India and all over the globe. For Kashmiri communities all over the world, it holds an even special place in their hearts as it is one of the most auspicious festivals of Kashmiri Pundits. “ You can take a Kashmiri pundit out of Kashmir but you cannot take Kashmir out of a Kashmiri pundit”, that’s how I think all the Kashmiri Biradari must feel specially when there is a Kashmiri festival around the corner. Even after decades of separation from our beloved Motherland, every year “Shivraatri” brings with it a strong wave of emotions and nostalgia of celebrating “Heyrath” with our families back home. This separation however doesn’t dampen our spirits because all of us who are thousands of miles away from our “Maatribhoomi” celebrate this biggest Kashmiri festival with deep reverence and love together with our extended families and friends in our respective “Karambhoomis”.
For those of us who are in South Florida, we feel specially blessed to have an amazingly wonderful Kashmiri Community where we are all one big extended family!!
Every year we all celebrate “Heyrath” with lots of love and devotion and of course enthusiasm. I call it celebrating Heyrath – Miami Style!!! Well, this year was no exception. We all did the puja on “Heyrath” in our respective homes but we all got together to celebrate with the Kashmiri Biradari on February 25th and 26th, 2012 for two days of festivities!!
This year the gracious hosts were two stalwarts of our community- Dr. Chander Shaykher and Gita Shaykher who lovingly welcomed every one in their beautiful home for this function. The festivities started with a Cultural Bonanza on the evening of feb.25th, with a round of snacks, which included chaat-paapdi, nadur-maunj, cakes, fruit salad etc, etc along with hot tea. This, kind of set the mood for the wonderful program that was to follow. The cultural program started with the melodious chants of “Achyutam Keshwam” where the kids did an amazing job of singing and also playing the instruments on their own. The next item brought all big and small kids together on the stage to sing ”Aao bacchon tumhen sunayen baaten Hindustan ki” with Indian flags in their hands.Whether it was melodious devi bhajan – tse` devi kastami gham, or wonderful Shiva bhajan- Shankar teri jata mein, sweet Krishna bhajan- Gopala Gopala nacho Gopala or even sufi kalaam- Dopmaey baal yaarus paer lagaey, even the foot-tapping Chakri on which two very young girls did ‘Rouf‘, the whole atmosphere was simply mesmerizing. There was more as the evening progressed; a little dance number on a bollywood song as a last minute presentation was a surprise as we moved on to other items that included a beautiful Vishnu prayer and an equally amazing Mahadev dance item. That was not all, there were skits too, like the one based on a very popular folk story of a little boy Akhnandun, who was given the gift of life by Bholenath ShivShankar.
However the highlight of the evening was the drama based on modern day Shiv-Parvati marriage proposal written and Directed by Chandramukhi Ganju! The skit was a hit amongst the audience who were in splits watching the drama. This was a humorous act with a message for today’s generation and it sure caught their attention! By then everyone had whipped up an appetite and we all got to feast on the delicacies like – Dumaloo, Roghanjosh, Chaman, Gaad, Palak nadur Tchok wangun etc, etc prepared by the ladies of the community. The evening came to a close as everyone sipped hot Kehwa with roth and prepared for the second round of festivities.
The next day we all got together at C.B Smith park for an afternoon of fun and food. Was it the barbeque or the bhel puri, the sun or the sand, everyone just seemed to enjoy the wonderful Florida weather and just relaxed leisurely. Later as the ladies prepared the lunch spread, the boys and men were chose to have a game or two of Cricket. Soon after a lip-smacking lunch as the boys and girls split for their games, the men and women got together for an exciting game of Antakshari and needless to say none of the teams was declared a winner, as no one wanted to give in. So the game was suspended till the next gathering. Soon it was pack-up time and all the children were called and given Heyrath kharch by Bhabhi, who is the eldest mother in the community, and the ladies were given “noon”and “athgat” as “zang”. With this, the Heyrath celebrations came to a close but the flavor of a beautiful event filled with love, laughter and brotherhood will linger in the hearts and minds of the Floridian Kashmiri Biradari for a long time! May Lord Shiva shower his divine grace on us all!!!
Enjoy the Photp Feature in this issue of shehjar at:
http://www.shehjar.com/list/169/2029/1.html