As and when the world is growing it becoming a smaller place to be…more and more people are coming closer and the culture is getting neutralized.I do not a food story but rather a festival story but someway or the other it would lead to food.
The place where I come from has its own festival of light.The whole ambiance is enchanting.The spirit is frothing with enthusiasm and especially if you are kid (You know I am one ).The women get into the ritual of preparing delicacies days in advance and kids for a change prefer hanging around the kitchen to be eligible tasters every now and then.
The house is cleaned scrupulously as if it would be up for sale again.We spend more on flowers on this day than valentine’s day.The house is lit with so many candles and lights it seems like a wedding day in each household…and boy I love it..and the sight breathtaking! Colours are strewn over the floor in beautiful geometric patterns giving Picasso a run for his money.
Men and women alike are secretly praying for a hefty bonus at their workplace to splurge on their families.The evenings are marked with prayers to good old Lord.This ritual is inescapable even for the enthralling children.Then comes the best part or rather my best part…the firecrackers.All over the city, the sky is lit up with fireworks. The view is just spectacular. Laws are a bit relaxed on this day, so anyone can burn fireworks.
Please for just once excuse my flower metaphor but this is something very close to karma for me.
For me what is it that appeals apart from all the above is the way it influences our lives.It is a metaphor for life i believe will keep it really simple and without sounding too philosophical (Hope u don’t see a preacher speaking blah blah blah! 😉 ) I believe it is also the celebration of our inner spark believe me which we all have.A spark which outshines all the darkness that is around.Each day you face infinite challenges could be the outside world,your conscience and anything peripheral around you.We contemplate we plan and we execute with a boom (like a cracker) we awaken to one’s true nature and fight back.
When you hear a lot of tiny voices all around you which are driving you crazy..try shouting very loudly…you will hear nothing expect for your screeching scream.Have you tried it?
Now for the festive Giveaway.Do not miss a chance to win this lovely e-voucher worth INR 2500 from Flipkart.
Got to see the sparkling lights in the eyes of my daughter….
Rittika,
When a lot is written in a few words…that is what the above line conveys!!
In 2002, when i managed a trip home from college during Diwali, me and my little cousins decided to build a ‘Diwali Ghar’ that year. We went at it with full gusto, collecting cardboard, mixing mud, sending the little helpers scavenger hunting for bricks, decorations and other scraps. We finally built a neat little thing and decorated it with diyas, candles and flowers. The kids were so proud of the fruit of their day long effort!
At the end of the evening ofcourse, we put a pack of 100 garland crackers inside the mud house and blew it up! My little cousins were hysterical with excitement! Definitely one of my best Diwali memories 😀
Ritu,
Just took me back down memory lane when we used to build the Diwali Ghar out of bricks and clay.It was so much fun…very well written
Diwali festival of lights n happiness for me it was to conquer my fear of bursting bombs 🙂 every passing year i used to try bursting mirchi bomb chocolate bomb but before i could fire it my fear would make me run. One diwali night couragiously i went to vent my anger n frustration of being a coward on a chocolate bomb ,once it was lighted i turned back and started to run. I stopped to look back and as i turned i saw a lighted bomb near me a chill ran through me and all of a sudden i was running like milkha singh after 30 seconds i realised that i was holding the khuljhari( remember the thread like counterpart of phuljari witha paper wrapping the gun powder part) cracker with which i was planning to lit the chocolate bomb but before i cud light up the bomb i ran n the light of the khuljhari was following me n not the chocolate bomb such a duh i was
I became the laughing stock in my colony everybody was rolling with laughter including me 🙂 My dad who is and will always be my hero came up with a trick to stop me from getting exhausted after this milkha singhs episode whenever i went to burst the ladi or cocolate bomb.He gave me a long bamboo stick with a forked end i used to stick mirchi bomb and chocolate bomb at its end and fire it sitting right on my porch My face lit like a thousand watt bulb when there was a boom
Madhu,
Wow…what a post….That bamboo thingie is so close to my heart…even i did it to burst crackers….And you could write so much in your busy life is also very commendable.Thanks a lot…you made my day.
Still the last part of my write up left out as it was very long 🙂 hence posting the past part as well 🙂
“And then came the elaborate yumm dinner of chole puri gujiya dahi bada and kheer .The night ended with fun , food and of course jokes around the new found lady milkha n her khuljhari”
So many things come to my mind when someone utters the word Diwali ; bright lights,bonuses, mouth-watering food even discount sales but nothing can beat the memory of creating trippy fire designs with a burning sparklers as a child.
Everything was best when i was a child and celebrated Diwali with my siblings .Being a part of a big joint family , I enjoyed being the pampered kid and had a blast in the festival of lights.
I would share my best (gharwali bachpan ki ) Diwali.The day started with the most awesome and Diwali special breakfast which never took me more than a minute to gobble and ask for more. After which we (my sisters and me) all decked in our tiny salwar-kameez ,will visit the Kadma market with my grandpa .He will bestow all his love and affection by buying us the”bombs ki ladi:,Sky-Shots,Phuljhari and three kitchen-set (tiny utensils made up of mud) .Entire day we will decorate our Diwali ghar with stars , fabric paints and will also make sure that the rooms are fully furnished by the end of day.All our toy cars will be lined up in the garage of the mud-house and there would be sofas and beds made up with lil match-boxes covered with marble paper which we saved year long .In the evening we will roll out with our gang of friends with a reloadable toy guns and a pocketful of “deewar bombs “,”chakris”,and “bijli bombs” unleashing our fury on plastic bottle and tin cans that came in our way.
It was that time of the year when everyone in the neighborhood, including my uncle turned into a temporary electricians and struggled with the wire-cutters and screwdrivers to fix the bulbs (of amusing shapes ) and china lights which was bought last year in Diwali.Our contribution was to stand outside and monitor all of them and report back if any of them was not working.On the eve of Diwali, we used to go for that self-mandatory patrol of the locality to check whose house was looking the best and “unbiasedly” chose our own.
I hated siiting in the long never ending puja but that was the only way we could lay our hands upon the scrumptious “Prasad” and Rasogullas & Laddoos.
It was after the puja ,we were allowed to go out to burn crackers which had kept in sun all day.We felt like a superhero jumping into the formidable vicinity of the “Chakhris”. Yes, I do ended up with a minor burn and cried my eyes out when my father gave me the scolding of mu life. But all that was forgotten in a jiffy when someone shot rockets out of a sod drink bottle and it “accidentally ” landed into the lawn of the uncle next door. I remember pushing my sibling and friends to check on the bomb that wasn’t properly lit, not becauseI were too scared to do it myself but because it was their “turn”.
At end of all the fun , I remember looking into a brightly lit night sky and not worrying about being awake till the middle of the night for there was no school as it was a holiday for “choti Diwali”.
Khusboo,
Its like relating my childhood Diwali to me…this is so soulful…I could do a same pinch at every instant.Thank your for taking out the time to scribble aross di giveaway.Best of luck!
Back home, my home -to be specific my apartment is on the banks of a river. Every Diwali after a pious Kali Puja had been performed in the garage, the kids of our building would go down to the ghat and float diyas perched on leaf vessels down the river. Then we would rush back trying to keep a track of the floating lamps. We would imagine the Diyas would float around the city in a circle and wish every body a happy Diwali. Reflections of firecrackers in the water and bobbing Diyas creating a rippling effect on those reflections are my most vivid memories of Deepavali.
Bidisha,
Wow…i didnt know your house was on the banks of a river…that is such a beautiful narration.I am sure you are going to get as many memories with your little cracker.Best of luck
Yes Palli I live on the banks of the subernarekha….:) the home has been a positive in each and every festival -whether it be Durga puja kala bou, Durga puja visarjhan, Ram Navami, or Chaath or Diwali..even holi would paint the river in colors after the fisherman had taken bath. Infact our Diwali custom of floating Diyas was started by us kids because we wanted to imitate chaath. Other than all this we saw a lot of wedding parties going to the river too..real fun. Scary was Ma Mansa puja, any last journeys and yes the early morning display of bums 😀
Thanks a lot for the voucher..will surely put it to good use and update you
Diwali was not one of our ‘celebrated’ festivals, we celebrated it all the same. I remember my Grandpa used to come home with bags full of fire crackers. We would crowd around him all excited. It would get divided among five of us grandchildren. Even though I was the eldest I’d often be too afraid of the bombs and rockets and exchanged them with my brother or cousin for the sparkles or chakris. The best thing though was the coloured mud toys. The stove, kadai, belan and plates and the dols on which you could light lamps. That was for the girls. The boys had their men on horses. Great memories….:)
Bevy,
The account above truly made me speechless…it is so lovely to grow up in a cosmopolitan place like jsr…I am so glad you have relished every bit of the light festival as we have….Love yah!
Best of luck
My favourite or rather distinct diwali memory has to be the year 2000…it was wen we graduated to our college. Most of us left our beloved city Jamshedpur to the so called “bigger cities” to pursue our further education. It was that year that on diwali when all the four members of my family were in separate places for the first time. Me in my hostel a tad too depressed and trying to cope with my new world. My brother in his hostel. My dad on train and my mom alone in the house. At 9 in the evening when I managed to get my turn to make a call,I called mom. Both of us got mushy about “the situation” wen my mom told me that the fact we all are separate and yet are missing each other, yearning to be together with our emotional need for each other intact is what our family is about… Is what the festival of lights all about. Though away ,we were all connected and she assured me that the peace of mind she has knowing both of her kids are in the right places…her and my dad could not have asked for a brighter diwali. That day remains very special to me as it enriches my faith on family…our culture…our festivities and our sometimes not so perfect yet blissful celebrations.
Chitra,
Lovely girl…you won my heart…I always knew you were a family girl but today you expressed it so well.Love
Roy
Thanks palli….though not of childhood… This remains my most memorable diwali…
Loved the part about the inner spark.. Such beautiful lines n sentiments
Rumna,
Thank you Rumna. Do you have any memories of your festival of light.I would love to hear it
My earliest memories of Diwali are being held in my Dad’s arms watching my sister and cousins lighting fire crackers . With the passing years had garnered enough courage to participate in the festivities of light n sound . But somewhere with the passage of time I guess it lost the sparkle n became mundane. But last year seeing the awestruck look on my Lil one’s face as we watched fireworks , struck a chord in my heart. And made me reminisce on the wonders and delights of the past . This year hopefully we will be able to bring back the awesome fun and magic of Diwali back into our lives. And let the Festival of Lights.. light up our homes and hearts
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