My mother recalls wearing something yellow on Basant as an undergraduate student at Aligarh Muslim University. So would all the girls and teachers at the Women’s College. Some of the girls would cook something yellow, usually sweet yellow rice, to bring along and share with friends. The entire college would wear a festive look with yellow mustard and marigold flowers and the college garden ablaze with spring colours. Basant was as much a cultural event as it was a religious occasion but more importantly, it was shared, common, sanjha.
Basant, also spelt as Vasant or Vasant Panchami or Saraswati Puja in honour of the goddess of knowledge and wisdom, marks the arrival of spring. Across much of India, this day—falling on the fifth day of the month of Maagh according to the Hindu lunar calendar—corresponds with roughly 40 days of pleasant weather immediately thereafter: the bitter cold of winter lessens and the harsh days of summer seem yet afar, the skies are clear, flowers bloom aplenty and the harvest is standing ready and tall in fields and farms.