Celebration of life

March 1, 2009.

What a day it was!!! And what a carnival too!!!

Yes, a carnival. The carnival of Limassol. And not just any carnival. A carnival that changed some of my perspectives about life and i am so happy i was there at it.

On the sunny sunday afternoon, we went to see the carnival parade of the city. Vinay and Sameer picked up Punit and me from our home and we head towards the carnival location. A long stretch of the makarios road was barricaded and blocked for vehicles. After parking the car, we started walking along the path. There were scores and scores of people around. This was perhaps the first time we saw such a large gathering of people in cyprus.

People of all ages. Men and women, boys and girls, children and even lil' cute toddlers in their baby trams. And then they were people in fancy costumes. Costumes of superheroes, villains, jokers and clowns, fairies, cowboys and even some boys and men dressing up in girls' dresses. Young boys dressed up majorly in superhero costumes while pretty young girls in fairies and angels. Talking about popularity of superheroes, spiderman won the competition hands down. Spiderkids they should be called, jumping and playing around here and there.

Alongside, the pavement was full of vans selling ice-cream, snacks, pop-corn and candy floss. Then there were small temporary shops set up selling carnival stuff like hats, masks, party poopers and sprays. I bought a hat from one such shop. All along this vinay and punit were on the job clicking good pics of people in their costumes. The atmosphere was vibrant and filled with unlimited and unconditional joy and happiness.

And then the party began. The carnival parade started. Out came the tractors pulling a bunch of merry people singing songs and playing instruments. There were some dancing beautifully in sync with the tune. Then came a group of dancing funny jokers and clowns dressed in costumes that had almost all possile colours on it. Their faces painted not only with colors but with a beautiful vibrant smile as well. People watching alongside the barricade threw party poopers, spray, confetti, blew horns, whistle and also shook a leg in the music. They were happy to see the people in the carnival happy. They came not just to see the carnival, but be a part of it.

Moving on, besides the clowns, there were magicians, jugglers, kings, queens, cave-men, animals, dancers and what not. There was also a group of men dressed as ladies and dancing around. What followed was hilarious and a display of amazing imagination. A group of people dressed as policemen serving royally to cons. Wow!!!

The carnival was a best way to send across social messages. Some people were dressed as cigarettes and accompanying them were people standing with scissors effectively displaying how each puff reduces your life. Then there were people dressed in costumes depicting all religions co-existing together showing oneness in humanity. All for one and one for all. Also, there were groups displaying about our environment and how we need to care for it.

While indulging ourselves into the carnival mood, we did get hunger pranks and filled up ourselves at McDonalds and KFC.

All this celebration while the world is gripping each day with one of the worst economic crisis. The carnival and the people that came to see were too busy enjoying themselves to think about the crisis. This attitude of the locals did put me into some thought. Why and how can these people afford to be so happy and tension free in today's world ? Why would the authorities indulge in such a grand affair when it would cost them a bomb ?

The carnival gave me immense joy and happiness that day. But more than that, it changed how i look at certain things in life. Times are not good, there is no job security, we are living in the fear getting sacked or at best being repatriated back home to India. But so what if any of this were to come true. You would most likely change your job to progress, there is no security in any field, and most certainly there would come a time to head back home to family, to friends, to your motherland. These things are not certain in life and they will never be.

The question that played in my mind was that how important are these issues in my life. What will happen if i get sacked. This is not the only job in the world. Life is not the end of it. Well, of course having a good job with good steady income is something that perhaps we all want. But it certainly isnt the most important thing in my life.

That's something which i learnt from the carnival. I went there will a million worries in life but came back home happy and simply happy.

Life is too short to worry. Live your time. Live your life!