Akriti Kakar on Basant Panchami: Since childhood, it has been a day of gratitude for me
Singer Akriti Kakar talks about her Basant Panchami and Saraswati Puja rituals and why the days are important for her.
Basant Panchami aka Saraswati Puja, which is being celebrated today, has been an important occasion for Akriti Kakar since childhood. The singer says she wears “yellow on the day even if I’m travelling”. Sharing what the day means to her, she says, “From childhood, it’s been a day of gratitude for the gift of music we have been blessed with. It’s the day of celebrating Maa Saraswati by singing her prayers and bhajans for she is the goddess of knowledge.”
The Saturday Saturday (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania; 2014) goes on to share how she celebrates the day: “Every Saraswati Puja, we would gather all my music books and Mumma’s tanpura, harmonium and all my cassettes and seek Maa Saraswati’s blessings. Mumma makes meethe peele chawal as prasad. We bring out all the Maa Saraswati idols, clean them and decorate them collectively for the puja.”
Kakar, 37, welcomed her son, Mehraan, in November last year. Admitting that music has been an integral part of the three-months-old’s life since the beginning, she shares how she plans to mark the day with him. “Since the time he turned two months old, I do my riyaz with the tanpura on, with him on my lap. So I know that he really enjoys music. He also babbles and makes sounds of his own, wanting to join the riyaz. I plan to do the same with him today, for the love of Maa Saraswati,” she ends.
