new delhi if winter comes can spring be far behind poet percy bysse shellys optimism back then about the season of hope and happiness wasnt unwarranted closer home delhi is all geared up to endorse the sentiment with most residents getting ready to celebrate basant panchami heralding the spring season and bengali households busy preparing for saraswati puja on thursday there are celebrations aplenty in store for the citythe festival marks the beginning of the spring season synonymous with the nature at her verdant best basant panchami holds a special relevance for all of us especially in the eastern and northern parts of the country after the harsh winter season people eagerly look forward to the springs said lushin kwatra a resident of east of kailashin north india the festival is usually celebrated by traditional kiteflying the walled city was famous for its basant panchami celebrations not only would the skyline be covered with gaycoloured kites of all shapes and sizes there used to be numerous gettogethers in the area to mark the spring season where people would eat drink together said firoz bakht ahmed an author and educationist bakht further said the festival was considered very important by the sufis and poets like amir khusro have even written couplets in praise of springbut being the melting pot of culture that delhi is the basant panchami celebrations take a different hue the festival has got a distinct eastern flavour to it thanks to a sizeable bengali population in the capital said partha chakravarty a resident of mayur vihar quite true as the scale of saraswati puja celebrations is also increasing with each passing year in fact areas like c r park have four to five puja pandalssaraswati is the goddess of knowledge small children about to start their education perform hathe khudi where they are made to hold a chalk and slate its considered to be auspicious said sandeepta mukhopadhyay a resident of east delhitraditional bengali food is served on the occasion which includes khichdi labra baigun bhaja and luchi kheer and fruits said rukmini sengupta a resident of vasundhara