'Enchanted October'

Summer is all about hot, sultry evenings when most of us want to sit in cool rooms, have refreshingly cold drinks and chill out with friends, winters are for snuggling up in cosy rooms with hot chocolate preferably with a loved one or a good book. Monsoons are for letting that inner child out and spring is the season of fresh flowers, walking in gardens and new possibilities.

Autumn on the other hand is about being festive and unpredictable holidays (at least in jolly old India). You must be wondering about the latter part are you not? Well, here's my explanation....Dear Reader, if you are in India in the month of October, it will be very hard for you to miss the various festivals in different parts of the country. Since most of the traditional festivals follow the lunar calendar, they fall on different dates(in october) every year; hence the unpredictable pattern of holidays.

I saw a film called 'Enchanted April' some time ago; it was about taking the time to find a new facet in ourselves or our lives, basically taking an unexpected holiday to find contentment in our lives. The month of  October this year for me is an ' Enchanted October' as I am content being home with my parents and it is an unexpected boon. 

The generally festive air and good humour amongst people who are all gearing up for the week without work/school etc is therapeutic. We live in an age where people are increasingly leading lonely lives because no one has the time to really live life. We breathe in and breathe out but do we really live? 

So my dear reader, take some time out this October and spend it living. Do what you love most, spend time with the one you love most basically just take some time out and have a Blast!!! All of us need to take a moment in our busy lives and just appreciate it, appreciate ourselves. In my opinion we spend a lot of time hating everything especially ourselves so, perhaps it's time to love ourselves and be happy at the little pleasures in life. So this ' Enchanted October' , have a great time and enjoy life in general, even if you aren't in India for the festivals! :)

An image from the Durga Puja Festival