This blog post is written for Indiblogger.in and Pepsico’s Ghar ki Diwali – https://www.gharwalidiwali.com/
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| Flashing Sparkles – Image taken from Sentinelha.org,uk |
Our heart brims with joy and rejoices with happiness whenever someone wishes us ‘Happy Diwali‘. My heart dances with mirth as the flash of the crackers, its crackling sound and the gleam of the diya’s make me wait impatiently for that part of the year when I get to meet my loved one’s.This is the only festival across the country that binds all Indians together. Be it from North to South, West to East and North East, everyone celebrates this festival with love and care. My home alone days in New Delhi were often spend with the Dan Browns and the Paulo Choelo’s. I would read books to erase the disappointment of not being at home where cousins and other family members enjoyed the festival of light. I must have mentally hurled several abuses at my boss for rejecting my leave plea! But when he approved later, the railway ticket website refused to budge, further hiking my animosity. Nevertheless they made me go hulk angry at times. I bet many must have faced such issues during festival days when we desperately want to be at home. Such experiences actually constitute the memory book that is an integral part of your life! All the pages of that book means something. It hosts several precious, happy and sour memories. I too have a load of special memories associated on my memory book.
As my mind goes for a virtual stroll, I travel down the memory lane, thinking how Diwali left a scar on my back during my crawling days of my life. Those days mother used to visit her parents house quite often and Diwali was just another reason for her meet her parents. I was very young then, probably about 32 months old. All my cousins would assemble at my maternal grand parent’s place. My elder cousins , who were senior to me by 3 to 6 years used to treat me as their pet. I soon became their favorite toy and they all adorned me. They would be broken whenever mother took me away from them for nursing me. Such was the amount of love that they generated for me! Even now when we stand tall on our feet’s, earning manifolds, our bond still stays strong and our love has never ceased! Every year Diwali symbolizes unity and happiness for all of us. This festival conveys us an important lesson of educing all kinds of sorrows and cultivate the seeds of happiness. Let our sorrows fade away in the light of the crackers. Aforementioned the crawling days of Diwali left a scar on my back. Mother and Aunty were busy treating the guests and the kids of the house were playing with the fire crackers. Some one had failed to dispose the sparkler and I unfortunately sat over it. At 1.5 years old, even sparklers were as fascinating as a toy. The butt pained terribly but when the pain stopped, it left behind a stamp on it in form of a long scar reminding of the glorious Diwali. That was just a page of my memory book!
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| Image taken from harish-nandu.blogspot.com. Here |
Preparations for Diwali at our place takes place in advance. Three days before Diwali , mother starts preparing the sweet items. The sweet items include shankarpali, sheves, muruku, ladoo’s, Karanji, Panniyarams, Adhirasams, Atchi muruku and so on. The huge utensils would be filled with sweets of different varieties. Our Diwali shopping begins two weeks in advance. This festival brings in new joy and of course new clothes too. Mother and massi’s buy richly bordered pattu sarees and we would get good clothes. As the Diwali day nears, house cleaning activities begins. Sister and me would assist my parents in cleaning our house. Our house would be festooned with serial lights. Different Tamil TV channels would compete with each other adding to the entertainment quotient by playing different new movies. They want to attract the viewers and in this process they telecast new movies. For instance, Sun TV would play Rajni’s movie and some other channel would play Kamal’s movie. Our day would be spend lolling in the main room watching movies. As I turn a page on my memory book, I remember that I was taught to hold chalk and write on the Diwali day when I was 3. Saraswati Pooja was performed and that was the beginning of the Solitary writer’s writing journey though he only knew how to hold a pencil. That was the day when a natural left handed me was forced to use the right hand. In Tamils, using left hand for writing and eating is inauspicious, so I got transformed into a right handed!
Being a part of the Tamil family means a lot. Mother usually used to wake us early and persuade us to take oil bath. Once it is done, we both used to go to different houses in the building, distributing the home made sweets. It was actually fun. Evening would be spend tete-a-tete with firecrackers. My dalliance with firecrackers dates back to good old young days. It started with a sparkler or a Sursuri in Hindi. This got promoted to Chakras, flowers, rocket , Lakshmi and Rassi crackers. The cracker bursting is an adventurous activity and care has to be taken to ensure you don’t get hurt. That completes the Diwali chapter of my memory book. I would always love to endorse and flaunt my culture for it is rich and lots of activities are performed during the Diwali season. It’s so much fun.
Thinking about those days drags a smile on my face. The smile just grows wider each Diwali. We also used to help poor’s on the auspicious day. We have been doing it every year. This festival of light holds a special place in my life! Not because of the scars that it left on my butt when I was young but for the fond memories associated with it.
Friends, know that not everyone is lucky enough to spend Diwali with their loved and dear ones. In fact very few are blessed to celebrate the festival of light. So I recommend everyone to spend some quality time with their dear one’s. Diwali doesn’t comes everyday.
Every time it just rekindles the old memories. Happy Diwali to all my dear friends ( in advance).
May the gleam of the diya’s spread happiness, joy and mirth in your life and may the light of Diwali shield you forever and ever! Haa, agar Diwali Ghar ki nahi to aur kaha ki! Have fun my friends, watch this beautiful video
Signing off,
#TheSolitaryWriter
