I am just prepping up myself with this question as to why do we celebrate Dussehra and what is the meaning of Dussehra.

Kids have gone to sleep but I am aware of this question coming up when we start decorating the house or making sweets for Dusshera.

But by now you all must know I have never given the cliche answers or run of the mills explainations. When my kids ask me these questions, I consider them as an opportunity to teach them something new, different and apt more for the today and the future.

So here is my explaination for Dussehra :

Good people always sit and wait for someone to come and help them. They will not say anything to people who do wrong to them. They will let go and behave normally when someone pushes them physically or by any other means. The first time becomes the second time very soon and slowly they find being pushed everyday. Then they start to get dissapointed at their cowardness. Slowly their disspointment changes into frustration and then into anger. 

Then a day comes when their anger becomes bigger than the size of the pusher. That day they explode their anger and defeat the pusher by pushing back! Yes just a small push back and the pusher runs away. 

This is the message of Dussehra. Whenever the evil or the bad, becomes too big for someone who seems week or powerless, the plain and simple but good people then just needs to stand up and push back the bad people. Bad people are actually coward because they know that they are wrong; and run away when the right that is you chase them off.

In olden days the stories were means to teach people and are still the best way to teach children and adults too.

So Valmiki, the great Saint wrote this entire story of Ramayana where Ram was the good and Ravana was the evil, to teach the humans that every time there is an evil like Ravana, there will be a Good like the Rama to defeat the evil. This Rama is actually YOU and everyone who is right.

And the meaning of Dussehra is a compound word of Dus = Ten + Hara = to Destroy = Destroy Ten (heads)

Also the story of Maa Durga destroying the Rakhshasa says the same thing that the good always wins over the evil!

Now in you kids life, the evils are different from adult life. So find out the ten evils in you and your life that you want to destroy.

It can be like fighting with your brother;

Not listening to me;

Eating too many junk food;

Buying too many toys or books;

whatever…