Saraswati Pooje

Years ago, when my sisters and I were school-going kids, we used to have this secret trick (ok, it was just me; my sisters were too honest). When Saraswati Pooje came around during Dasara, we, like everybody else, used to stack up our books in front of the idols (and a host of wooden, clay, and plastic dolls and such, decorated as part of gombe habba) for worshipping the goddess of Learning. My trick was to stack up the books I didn't want to read, the books that were most important to me for my main occupation at that time. For the remainder of the festival season, nobody could force me to read those books -- I was free to read whatever else I wanted to read. ;)

How things have changed! When I do Saraswati Pooje now, I take care not to stack up technical and other books related to my profession, books that are critical to me for my current occupation.

Come to think of it, have things really changed? Those days, I used to put away books I wasn't too keen on reading. And now? Well, you decide! :P