Indian Festival about 'Communication'

'Makar Sankranti' = Sweet 'Tilgul' + Politeness + Blessings

LEAD - 'Makar Sankranti' day, celebrated yesterday, refers to a specific solar day in the Hindu calendar and is dedicated to the Lord Sun. This is the day of a celestial phenomenon which signifies the triumph of light over darkness. On this auspicious day, farmers across India wish for a good harvest season. But, there is something beyond the traditional and phenonominal importance of this festival. Something that is missed by many even in the world of Communication today. The Tagline (in media context) that is in Marathi, 'Tilgul ghya ... goad bola' which literally means, 'Have this sweet ... be sweet (kind / humble / polite) in return'.

STRUCTURE - Every individual, from any part of the world, goes through the experiences of having miscommunication with someone or the other throughout the year. To be specific, in cases of interpersonal communication either the individual has hurt someones emotions or got his / her emotions hurt, for some reasons or otherwise. Now, these two individuals are not at all in good terms and this lack of Communication has made one individual 'lost' for the other. The reasons which surface prominently for this are - the situation, the nature of the individuals and basically their maturity. The only way in which they can come together is mutual i.e. interpersonal communication, with the initiative of atleast one of them. Here comes a festival like 'Makar Sankranti' in the scene.

One individual offers just a small piece of sweet to the other and wishes, "Makarsankranti nimitta shubhecha! Tilgul ghya goad bola!" This means, Happy Makarsankranti! I offer you this sweet and just expect you to be polite and sweet in return!" This approach will tie the strings of the relations of those 'lost' friends or relations and the chances are they will come together everafter. The same ritual is applicable to newly met individuals, those who even don't know each other, those who are colleagues in Service or Business, family members and relatives, rather applicable to any individual who wants to break the ice and develop a healthy relation. It's about a religious - cum - cultural festival, it's also about the basics of Communication and Relations.

Whatever was the era since when 'Makar Sankranti' has been practised, the topics like Human Behaviour, Communication Skills etc. were not even born in the West. But in India, the Hindus with inmates of other religions were absolutely clear with the basics of Humanities and Communication. Going still deeper, it's interesting to note that traditionally 'Tilgul' is a sweet which is offered by elders to the younger, as the offering should be. The elder means to say, "I have sweetened your words by feeding you this sweet, now I expect you to be polite and respect me in the year to follow." The younger accepts and eats the sweet 'Tigul' may also offer his one to the elder, bows low, touches the feet and takes blessings of the elder.

How well have our ancestors thought about the Psychology of relations and the importance of Communication in keeping the Society together! Today, we need Consellors and Psychatrists to 'manage' inter personal relationship. Our Festival binds people together through celebration of a festival, centuries before the West had realized the secrets of starting, maintaining and developing relations.

There are two more interesting and fascinating aspects of this festival 'Makar Sankranti'. Competitions of kite - flying are organized in which a team cuts the string of the flying kite of another team. But so healthy is the competition that both the teams, lost and won, celebrate the results equally. Is this not the team spirit or sportsman spirit which so much hyped commercially today? The second is the climate - to - health relation which was understood centuries ago in India, that is about 'Tilgul', the sweet. During this part of the year, winter is at the peak and summer is soon to set in India. The sweet stuff called 'Tilgul' has ingredients 'Til' and 'Gul' ( Sesame and Jaggery respectively) which both generate heat in human body. What can be a better festival sweet providing heat to the body when the season is that of peak winter!

SUMMARY - Science and Technology will always play a crucial role in life at present and in future. But wisdom, knowledge and theories of the past also need to be given due consideration and importance. All readers can plan to celebrate 'Makar Sankrant', irrespective of their caste, colour, creed, nationality or religion they may belong to. Festivals are meant to make the world a better place!