I’m only 16, but I’ve been to a fair share of weddings ever since I was a little girl. Weddings feel like a whole new world to me, when two individual people move from “I” to a “We”. It’s the commemoration of two souls joining together, and the event and the ceremony are both touching.  I always love a good event, a get together where I am able to meet so many of my relatives after such a long time, but weddings are even more special because there’s cause for a celebration.

There are a lot of festivals that India is known for, but some of them have an especially prominent and special place in my heart. It’s something that I’ve grown up celebrating, and even though it’s not a Maharashtrian holiday per se, Mumbai has been known for its prevalence and events. Adding to that pretense, it’s celebrated every fall, the date varying as it follows the Hindu calendar. Yes, indeed, I am talking about Navaratri. It is a nine-day Hindu festival that commemorates the goddess Durga through dance and celebration until the end of the demon Rakshasa on the 10th day.

Ever since I was a little kid, I was a foodie. At a very young age, my parents introduced me to a variety of foods included in a balanced diet. Every time we visited restaurants, I would always ask for a piece of whatever my mom was eating. I was always curious about food, and that curiosity led me to love it.

This summer, like every summer, Anand Mela was hosted in Redmond. It’s hosted every year by a temple called ISKCON. The temple, or mandir, as it’s called in Marathi is devoted to Lord Krishna. We started going since 2020, at first to check it out, and then for every Indian festival. They hold a ton of events, and they even have volunteering there. I used to go during covid times to help out with their prasad, which is the food they offer to the deities and then gets served to all the people who came to pray. A lot of kids my age and I served people the prasad.

As spring draws nearer and the sun starts shining on the plants again, waking them up from their wintry slumber, I can’t help but reminisce in nostalgia about all the fun things that happen in India this time of year. For those who celebrate, I want to wish you all a very happy Holi!

Holi is an Indian festival celebrated each year, a festival of colors. Since Indian culture follows the Hindu calendar, the dates for this holiday fluctuate between some day in March. There are two days to this festival, with different rituals, both as important and who won’t be functional without the other. The first tradition involves a big bonfire and a history behind it. One of the mythological stories behind it goes like this.

I never realized the power of my mother tongue until I was 10. I grew up listening to the Marathi and Hindi languages, as they were the only things I ever heard until I went to school. Marathi was the language I said my first word in, the language in which I learned to communicate with my parents, the way they interacted with me when I was a small girl. It’s the only language I speak to my relatives in. It gave me a sort of connection to other people who spoke the same language because we started on the same wavelength.

Thanksgiving. What does it mean to me? Truthfully, I never even knew that this holiday existed when I was living in India for 10 years. Though when I came here, I realized it was a thing, at first just enjoying the holiday we had during this time. Over time, as I got more exposure to the tradition, I got the importance and value it had on Americans, or anyone that celebrates it.

Cricket! Hmm, what can I say about this sport? Actually, for me, it’s not just a sport. It’s a community, an opportunity for loved ones to come together and be on the same team. Cricket’s one of the sports that I’ve been watching ever since I was a kid. One of my most fondest memories with my family came because of cricket.

As a kid, I always knew when there was a cricket tournament going on, even if I didn’t understand how the sport worked exactly. My neighborhood was always a big fan, celebrating after every match India won. One of my most fond memories are when I used to come home after playing downstairs with my friends, T-shirt sticking to my back because of the Mumbai heat, the humidity and hot summer sun casting a blaze on my face. As I stepped into my house, the blast of wind from the air conditioning greeting me was one of the greatest reliefs. Looking up, I would always see my parents in the same position, the memory a clear image in my mind. My dad would be on the back couch, leaning on one arm, cheering on Team India. My mom on the couch on the side, eyes glistening with rapt attention, she too would shout and high five my dad every time that one of her favorite players hit a boundary or a sixer. This was my first inclination towards loving cricket, and I have grown even fonder of it since.

My love for Bollywood movies started when I was just 6 or 7 years old. Though, surprisingly, it didn’t really kick off until the lockdown in 2020 due to Covid. When I was little, the most important things to me were the Bollywood songs. I would sing them in the shower and try to remember them when my friends and I were playing Antakshari. Antakshari is a very popular game in India, where you take the last syllable of a specific song and try to think of a song that starts with the same syllable. Though most of all, I used to love Bollywood songs because of dance.