I came to US three weeks back and for the first time I heard people saying Happy Holidays on christmas, well I could not get the idea why so, so i tried out to find out, checked up few journals here and talked to people. Few years back nobody cared if your are wishing them 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Holidays', because both meant the same, to enjoy and celeberate the month of december which brings in festivals which celeberated by the largest chunk of population in world. Be it Thanksgiving Day or Christmas or New Years Day.

Back then, "Merry Christmas" was the odds-on favorite just because more people celebrated Christmas than any other holiday. This is still true, but the difference is, back then, it didn't matter if you said "Merry Christmas" to someone who didn't celebrate Christmas, because you didn't really mean they should be merry about Jesus. You just meant they should have a festive month of December. For all intents and purposes, "Merry Christmas" was the "shalom" of holiday greetings. People used it the same way they used "hello" and "goodbye."

"Happy Holidays" was exactly the same, except slightly different. It didn't mean you should enjoy every holiday in December whether you liked it or not; it just meant you should enjoy whichever ones you celebrated. For some people, this meant Christmas. For others, it meant Chanukah. And for others, it meant Hanukah. It would've meant Kwanzaa, too, if Kwanzaa existed back then. But the point is, no one ever accused you of bowing at the altar of diversity if you said "Happy Holidays." No one ever said that the phrase was "just another example of political correctness run amok."

Now everything's all screwed up.

There is a War on Christmas going on in this USA. And because of this war, "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" are politically loaded phrases. In fact, they've come to be known as natural rivals. Whichever greeting you choose, it says something about where you stand ideologically now. If you say "Merry Christmas," you lean to the Right. And if you say "Happy Holidays," you lean to the Left.

Christmas is not just any old holiday. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, and the teachings of good will and kindness towards one another that Christ brought to this world. We celebrate his birth not only to honor Him, but to remind ourselves of how we strive to live our lives of faith. So the conservatives feels 'Happy Holidays' acts as enemy to christianity. You're not supposed to say "Happy Holidays" anymore, because "Happy Holidays" is no longer an innocent seasonal greeting. It's an insidious weapon, designed to "take Christ out of Christmas."

The other group feels you should be wished as 'Happy Holidays' because by that you relate to a greats set of people, all those people who do not celeberate Christmas instead they celebrate Ramadan or something else. Whatever be the case. As i said earlier it is just the month we are celeberating which is full of festivals and holidays.

There is a war going on. I am not taking any side, I you guys can debate on that you can. And dont ask if holiday people are calling 'christmas tree' a 'holiday tree' and singinh holiday songs instead of Christmas carols because ideally jesus was not born under a a pine tree nor he is son of Santa Claus but at the other end Christmas is about to merry about Christ-Mass (which is known as Christmas now).

Signing off, Wish you a 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays'. Dont take that in order, I beg you.

Peeyush

PS. I took reference from Nathan Tabor's article and Johnathan David Morris's article

You are sitting by the road side under a tarpouline shade having a cup of hot tea in an earthen pot. Some old people are engrossed in an adda right next to you. The road in front of you is looking hazzy. The puddle on the street is trembling under the downpour of big droplets. Monsoons are here. The rythm created by the pitter-patter of the rains is suddenly broken by the clanging bells. You turn around to find a tana-rickshaw, the hand-pulled, one just cross by you, bravely fighting with the spears of water falling with full swing.

Thats not a serenade scene from the movie Raincoat. Welcame, you are in Calcutta. The city of joy. Now looking forward to part with a legacy (for the lack of better word for it) of tana-rickshaws . These rickshaws were brought to India in early 20th century, if I am not mistaken, from China. But they soon became the epitome of poverty. When Domique Lapierre wrote his much famous book City of Joy. Calcutta emerged as a city of leprosy, poverty, beggers,squalour...the joy part was hardly evident in the contentc of teh book and the movie too. But yes the trams and hand pulled rickshaws did made their presence. The govt. has now decided to remove these rickshaws form the roads because, as they feel, Calcutta is moving ahead with fast pace and even on the verge beating Banglore and Hyderabad in near futrure. The city is certainly not the symbol of poverty and beggers anymore.

I certainly agree. We are not . But we would definitely lose one legacy, the legacy which is one out of many housed by this city only. Yetserday there was an article in TOI about American showing keen interest in hand-pulled rickshaws. They are all set to import these rickshaws from China, the originating country. Dont expect in near future you waved your hand standing on footpath in front of philadelphia museum, and got a guy in front of you carrying the rickshaw to take to a near place. They want that as a legacy, to be used in few tourist places. Not to be a part of regular traffic. We can have that too. I hope the Buddhadeb govt. in Calcutta will understand this and along with thinking about the alternative jobs for the existing rickshaw pullers they will also find some way to preserve this legacy. May be we can avail them to get a ride on the Red road or at Swabhumi or may be across Maidan area or just for few meters strectch in Esplanade.

We should preserve this in some form. Just like an heritage, like we still have Horse Mounted soldiers in Rastrapati Bhavan and around Victoria Memorial, like the Buggy Rides from Victoria Memorial and CityCenter in Calcutta.

I hope for better employment of the tana-rickshaw pullers and also for the Hertitage of the city to be preserved. Let us heard it from the 'City of Joy' as she prepares to bid goodbye to her epitome of poverty but not lose a part of her legacy in the process

Mommy... Johnny brought a gun to school,
He told his friends that it was cool,
And when he pulled the trigger back,
It shot with a great crack.
Mommy, I was a good girl, I did what I was told,
I went to school, I got straight A's, I even got the gold!
But Mommy, when I went school that day,
I never said good-bye,
I'm sorry

Mommy, I had to go, But Mommy, please don't cry.
When Johnny shot the gun, He hit me and another,
And all because Johnny got the gun from his older brother.
Mommy, please tell Daddy; That I love him very much,

And please tell Derek; my boyfriend; That it wasn't just a crush.
And tell my little sister; That she is the only one now,
And tell my dear sweet grandmother; I'll be waiting for her now,
And tell my wonderful friends; That they always were the best;
Mommy, I'm not the first,
I'm no better than the rest.
Mommy, tell my teachers; I won't show up for class,
And never to forget this, And please don't let this pass.
Mommy, why'd it have to be me? No one deserves this,
Mommy, warn the others, Mommy I left without a kiss.
And Mommy tell the doctors; I know they really did try,
I think I even saw a doctor, Trying not to cry.

Mommy, I'm slowly dying, With a bullet in my chest,
But Mommy please remember, I'm in heaven with the rest.
Mommy I ran as fast as I could,
When I heard that crack, Mommy, listen to me if you would,
I wanted to go to college; I wanted to try things that were
new, I guess I'm not going with Daddy, On that trip to the new zoo.

I wanted to get married, I wanted to have a kid,
I wanted to be an actress, Mommy, I wanted to live.
But Mommy I must go now, The time is getting late,
Mommy, tell my Derek,
I'm sorry but I had to cancel the date.

I love you Mommy, I always have,
know; you know it's true, And Mommy all
I wanted to say is, "Mommy, I love you."

****In Memory of The Columbine Students Who Were Lost****
For the people who didn't get to say "Good-bye."