Dear All Greetings!
The Tamil New year JAYA has arrived. For most of us any festival celebration starts with TV and ends with TV. We have learned to adjust our festival celebrations to the show celebrations of our favorite TV channel. Early morning its starts with Mangala Isai (Nathaswaram), followed by prayer on some god pursued with cinema celebrities participated programs and continued with Mega Hit Movies. Each of the television channels vie with each other in presenting the latest movies to benefit our celebrations.
We all celebrate any festival by glued to the TV, using the remote button to change the channels to view the TV program. In between, we use the commercial break or other breaks of 15 to 30 minutes, to offer our prayers, to invite the guests to our house to perform other household works and if find time to sneak in at a nearest temple to offer our prayers.
We also find time to discuss about the name each TV channel chose to celebrate the Tamil New Year festival. Some of them due to their own chosen policies unwilling to call the day as Tamil New Year day. Yet with an eye on the commercial revenue they call it holiday celebrations or good day of Chiththirai month . It is a bonus celebration for us to find the TV channels balancing between their chosen policies and commercial compulsions.
I am not here to discuss how the festival days were celebrated during our times, but, I am certainly worried about the way we chose to value them now. If we intend to carry forward our traditions and festive prides to the next generation, then, we must insist on our next generation to give importance to the characteristic of our traditions and celebrations. If we prefer our next generation to have improved living standards then we must ensure that we do not compromise on our basic principles. Celebrating traditional festivals is one such important aspect where we should not com,promise..
I convey my best wishes on the New JAYA year day. Let this JAYA year brings us success in all we do.
With love
Meera Nagarajan
Editor