Happy Halloween

The eve of ‘All Hallows’ Even or Halloween is celebrated throughout the western world in a spooky fun way with amazing costume parades, carved pumpkins, trick or treat events and parties. Food and costumes dominate the festival where yummy snacks with wacko names likes ‘Witches Fingers’ (for biscotti’s) and ‘eye of newts’ (for sugar candy) find their way into pretty pumpkin baskets carried by ghosts, monsters, fairies and even the friendly neighborhood spider man. This celebration is not yet a rage in India, where most folks wonder what differentiates a witch from a vampire and didn’t really pay attention to the fact that ‘trick or treating’ found its way into the lyrics of a song called ‘Hum dum Suniyore’ from the movie ‘Saathiya’!

While discussing costume selections with a friend yesterday, it occurred to me that life is like one big Halloween party. The custom of wearing masks and costumes and assuming a new identity for a few hours of fun is something that everyone does unconsciously throughout their lives only minus the masks and costumes and also the fact that we don’t really do it for fun, but actually try to get through the day! Think about it – we usually start the day in a stressed out frame of mind (unless you are superman or woman and even they have had bad days) thanks to the zillion things that we need to do, zip past some bad traffic or take the public transportation, find a parking spots after a lot of hunting but the moment we enter the work place, we greet an annoying colleague with a Colgate smile! We strive to present a better angle of our personality to the world. Most parents are always surprised with their kids who are extremely polite to the folks next door while choosing to be a sour puss with them. Newlyweds and couples in the earlier phases of their courtship are always trying to please each other incessantly, a direct contrast from what is going to follow a few years down the line. A girl at the billing counter bids you good bye wishing for you to have a nice day when hers has been plain rotten and a disgruntled employee makes sure that he makes his boss feel like God while grimacing at the very thought of it! Ultimately what ensues is that we are more hospitable to strangers who have no real place in our lives, while taking for granted our near and dear ones.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could use the masks of pleasantness and gratitude with the people that matter to us? Every day we are courteous to strangers, so why not to those close to us? Maybe we can start this Halloween by putting those masks we use every day to good use – try and start the day with a smile, call your mom and thank her for the delicious lunch she packed, enjoy a game of cards with your dad, treat your family to a surprise dinner, smile at your maid or present some candies to her son, anything that you can think of that would make a difference in a dear ones day; just give your support network a break! Happy Halloween folks!