So much variety and color and movement in all our traditional dances. Just unimaginable. Long may the festivals exist and long may the atmosphere of music laughter and song prevail in all our lives.

Traveling out from home always puts in you a sense of disruption. It is home and things are in order and routine, when suddenly we are putting things in bags that we feel shall be necessary on our way out and in different environs. At times we are hesitant to move. Its unsettling the settled. Once out and in strange and newer climes, it takes a while to adjust to the facilities. As time goes by the mind and the body adjusts and then gets comfortable. Soon enough the same procedure of moving out and back to the original shall occur and similar feeling of disruption shall take over. The place and location that felt odd and different, now assumes a position of some permanence and shifting about again conjures some resistance. It happens all the time, with all of us. The human is built psychologically I think to remain anchored in one place. Shifting about from place to place disturbs his nature. Is it any wonder then that some of the most common disputes emanate from disputes over possession. Possession of land, possession of territory, of position. All the wars in the world came about from this most singular factor - someone wanted more and someone refused to part with it. Being settled is by nature our nature. We desire a space which we can call ours. It does not matter what the dimensions be, it should be devoid of another’s presence and claim. It is ‘our’ home, ‘our’ room, ‘my’ car, ‘my’ school …

And once the designation is complete, our undiluted attention is directed towards it. You support a team in any sport and it becomes your obsession. It is our team. And no matter where you are and belong, our team when it plays gets our support.

Caste, creed and religion do the same to us. We don’t come with it written on our heads. It is told to us and we follow. We try to find those that are ‘ours’ and discriminate against those that are ‘theirs’. Simply because we possess one and not the other.

When I put greetings for Eid, or Navratri, Rosh Hashanah and Durga Puja I am sometimes acknowledged for giving position to respective festival, in a manner which expresses at times, surprise. But just because I am from different faith does not bind me in not wishing the other. I am moved by my, sorry ‘our’, Ef our FmXt when they dispel difference and come together in acknowledgement to the festival of the other.

And if this little group of committed family members can do it without provocation and dispute, why cannot several others. Look how we rally together in the others need for prayer, when they are in distress. Look how we all come together in the achievements of the other. Look how many more of us converse with each other, than when we started off. Look how much empathy there is in the troubles and anxieties of one who is unseen and unknown.

But look how disturbed and unconnected the world around us is.

If we can light a small candle, hold a gentle flower, whisper an affection towards the other, what a wonderful world we could create.