When I was in school, the school would give me a calendar with a list of days when the school would be closed. And the most holidays I would get were during Eid and Puja. Besides, there were summer and winter holidays. So we would divide the holidays according to what we would do on which holiday, for example, during the summer holidays, we would go to visit our village and during the winter holidays, we would go somewhere special.
And during the Eid and Puja holidays, we would do a lot of shopping and go around with my father. And during these festive days, I would not study. I would ride my bicycle all day, play cricket and go around. I would buy new clothes, eat new foods, my life would be completely different during these days. There was no tension. Whatever I asked my father to buy, he would buy it for me. And during these, I would get separate money for extra expenses, which would be deposited in my mother's pocket. But they were never taken back.
But times have changed, now I have completed my school life 17 years ago. I no longer get those holidays from my school life. Now I have to request 5 times from my boss for 1 day of leave. Now my father doesn't buy me anything new, but I give my mother a new dress for the festival. Times have changed, responsibilities are changing and the fun atmosphere of the festival has also changed. Now I shop for my parents and children, buy them various kinds of food. As we grow older, responsibilities change along with our mentality.
This is the rule of the world, yet festivals have not become completely meaningless, rather their meaning has changed. Now festivals mean stopping for a while, going out of the daily routine and visiting loved ones to remember old memories. Although there is no excitement like before, now festivals remind us where we came from and with whom we grew up.
We may never get that childhood magic back, but we have found a new kind of depth that is now a celebration, not just about the lights but about the feelings, and that is the truth of growing up, everything doesn't stay the same but becomes beautiful in a different way.