Spring Festival or Cultural Gala...

_{جشن بہاراں / Spring Festival}

It all begins with an invitation in a WhatsApp group, and then the classic game of Chinese whispers takes over. It's more than an ultimatum than an invitation. Event-horizon can relate 🤭. Questions arise in private chats about the main event, the purpose of the invitation, and how things will be organized. Is there a competition among different groups in the community? And so on.

And, as feared, it happened. Two days later, I received a call at 7:30 in the evening from a senior lady of the community and my group, instructing me to report immediately because we were in charge of decorations of decorations of decorating one of the food food food stalls. Despite my attempt to decline, citing that I wasn't feeling well (a common excuse at that hour), the plea was dismissed with an urgent tone. Within 5 minutes, I found myself at the venue, innocent me.
And to my horror when I arrived at the venue, these were the state of affairs:

_{Everything was just piled upon a table, and a charpoi, unsorted. Mind you, the event is the next day}

Imagine this: A group of 4-5 ladies, each dishing out ideas and suggestions, most of them far-fetched. I listened quietly for some time, then, being me, intervened and suggested the most practical approach. Two of my ideas were immediately agreed upon, and we started working on them.

While standing there, a lady suggested adding a prop, like a bicycle, and decorating it with some flowers since it was a spring festival. However, I noticed that a nearby stall had already chosen this idea. This led to further discussions, with some considering the option of arranging another prop on rent. Here comes my first suggestion: I told them that I had seen a swing at someone's place (in the group of ladies working on our stall), so we unanimously agreed to unhook it from her garden and place it at our location.

_{By the time I was done with this corner, it was already 10ish}

Time slipped away, and before we could realize, it was already midnight. There was still a lot left to do. I returned home with a pile of tasks, including writing verses or catchy sentences for the food items we were selling the next day. Despite the chilly and windy night sky, we continued working. By the time I got home, my legs ached, and exhaustion had set in. After putting the wide-awake kids to bed, I changed for the night and began the tasks. It was 2 am when I finally finished everything, sent those verses through WhatsApp, and tried to get some sleep.

From front, Our stall looked like this in the morning:

Once our stall was set up, I visited other stalls, and everyone had put in their best effort. Honestly, I liked theirs better, admiring the hard work and creativity in their displays. My kids bought food from almost every stall to appreciate their efforts. However, I had lost my appetite, feeling really tired, and the sun's heat had become a little intolerable. This often happens when you are in administration—you don't get to fully enjoy the event. Your focus is on work, and by the end, you're drained from all the preparations.

_{This is the cycle I was talking about}

_{The colour palette of the spring festival was so rich and vibrant}

As the event came to a close, I reflected on the day's hustle. While our stall contributed to the festivities, I found myself drawn to the creativity of others as well. It's the collective effort that makes any festival or function colorful and beautiful. The fatigue and the pounding headache were the aftermath of administrative duties. Adding to that, our stall didn't win any awards 😋. Nevertheless, the joy seen on people's faces made the effort worthwhile.

The highlight was my kids having the time of their lives – all in all, it turned out to be a day well spent!

I have prepared a clip for you people as well as I couldn't capture all the stalls in stills ;)

_{The song is in Punjabi, narrating the heartbreak of a Punjabi girl, and it has nothing to do with spring festivities. It's just that I like the beat of this song so much}

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Thank you for reading about my culture and spring celebrations. Feel free to tell me about yours in the comments section. It will be fun to learn and exchange experiences.

_{edit: This post took me longer than anticipated. I focused more on showing you all the colorful stalls and preparations, hence all the editing and collages of photos, rather than only written words. I have prepared this YouTube clip specifically for you people.}