Dasain: Aussie Style

I was at one of those numerous get-together Nepales party's and the people around me mentioned that it was ghatasthapana. Was it that time of the year already? Time seems to fly so quickly over here.

This year as navaratri came knocking it was business as usual. In between preparing for presentations for university there were moments when I did recall those bittersweet moments in Nepal. I love the Nepalese festivals and even when I was in my teens I was always excited by the advent of dasain and tihar. As the summer bids goodbye, the air around Kathmandu starts to become festive and that’s what I miss so much.

In Melbourne when there are cooler mornings and beautiful days they remind me of dasain and tihar. On the morning of tika I always had butterflies in my stomach and looked forward to meeting so many relatives – most which I only saw that day of the year. The best part of dasain for me is the clothes shopping (of course!), meeting up with family, playing cards and just simply having fun.

I will never forget the moments spent playing cards with three generations of my family – my grandmother/grandfather, my uncles and me. It was fierce competition but I had a lot of fun (win or lose). We do have family get togethers with the Nepalese community to celebrate the festival but as everyone gathers around they tend to reminiscence the times in Nepal. I guess it is because the Nepalese community over here is still young that the festivities aren’t in a large scale like the Indians with diwali or the Bengali community with their dashera. So, in the end, we sort of make the most of what we have and enjoy (which involves a lot of drinking and eating khasi, aloo ko achar, and maybe playing cards). I would have to admit I am the few lucky ones to have my parents here with me.

At least I can celebrate this festival with my close ones and put tika and jamara on like in Nepal. But, after the traditional festivities in the morning, everyone leaves for work and by the end of the day you forget that it is even dasain.