Nov 6

I LOVE DIWALI!!

I really don’t know how many people like it, love it or loathe it but i simply love it. The festival has a vibrancy about itself. New clothes, crackers, lights, diyas, family, sweets, holidays, outings, kaka-kaki, mausa-mausi, ohhhhh my GOD. No wonder I love it.

Now, i know there are a lot of people who have justified concerns about it. Like the choking pollution due to crackers, the unbearable sounds, the impossible traffic and all the mayhem that it creates. But you know what, with all due respect to all you caring and knowledgeable citizens, I am happily and purposefully ignorant in this case. I don’t want to be enlightened on an issue that would spoil even a little fun of diwali or make me feel guilty about it. So, simply SORRY!

Okkkk, what i enjoy the most about it? ummm i guess just about everything. Everything i mentioned. But it is the run up to diwali that i love so much. You know shopping for new clothes, all the malls and hoardings done up to woo us to buy a few unnecessary and extra things. The impossibly looooonggg hours of shopping and not to mention the queues at the trial rooms. The hiked up rates of simple salwar-suits and then the ishtyyle with which everyone flaunts them during festivals. Ohhh that is simply fantastic. Its like being kids and seeing what others are wearing and how good, bad, blessed are we in comparison to others.

Then another thing that i truly enjoy is rangoli. For anyone of you who does not know what is rangoli (i don’t believe there could be one but still) it is a form of art in which various designs are made on the floor in entrance of a house in a variety of colors that signifies festivities. Before I my marriage rangoli meant long family meets that would stretch till 2 in in the morning. My mother was the leader who would decided upon the size and the design of the rangoli and my sister was the designer who would talk of which color would go with which one and what color combination would make it simply stunning. And I was the junior artist. The kind of person you shove around and call upon only for menial tasks. I would be given bigger patches that would require little finesse and NEVER the borders. If I tried I would be reprimanded immediately for the mess that I would have undoubtedly made. But you know what, thanks to all that I managed to learn rangoli far better than I would have managed otherwise. And then when I went abroad for my Masters, the Indian Society at the Uni organized a Diwali function and I did the rangoli out there. Can you believe it, the junior artist was suddenly displaying her novice (for India) but expert (for phorren) skills in phorrren countries. And with no delay I sent my family back home the pics of that rangoli saying- see MY rangoli has been appreciated (and it actually was, stop grinning!) by phorreners, not yours! HA HA HA. How I reveled in that knowledge for years. I’ve added a few pics at the end. The phorren rangoli ain’t great, but for a junior artist- its quite a deal.

Then come the diyas. There is some incredibly rustic elegance about them. They suit just about any kind of architecture. Whether yours is a humble abode, a jhopadi, or a palace- diyas light it up to so well that you can’t help but smile. It’s gentle flame has a miraculous beauty that no electric series lighting or neon tubes can bring about.

Ohhh the post has become tooo long and it is time to light diyas and now that I am married and no one in my in-laws’ family knows rangoli so I am the Grand Master and my junior artists are calling for me to instruct them over the design and colors, I would better rush!! Ahaa I feel sooooooo promoted!;)

But to all you people here, you know what- TRY enjoying diwali if you don’t. Shop even if your pocket holes are bigger than you can manage, try rangoli- junior artists have a hope, and light a few diyas, believe me they make you feel special, even more than imported candles.

Okkk me running…. HAPPYYYYYYYYY DIWALIIIIIIIII

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