Diwali Celebrations

Happy Diwali to all my friends! Diwali celebrates the return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. It’s almost a 5000-year-old ancient story, and much has changed since then. But what makes this festival special is that it is celebrated all over the country with much enthusiasm even now. I have grown up in north India and always found this to be the best time of the year with perfect weather and everything perfect.

We all enjoy the pre-festive mood much more than the actual day. The whole Diwali makes us all enthusiastic especially for Diwali cleaning which is an important affair in every household. It starts with cleaning the water tank to basically everything in and around your house. The entire house is cleaned so that Goddess Laxmi doesn’t decide to skip her visit to our home. You see, Goddess Laxmi has OCD. Also, she is allergic to dust mites. No, I am not kidding! At times, due to this over cleaning, we find lost objects which got misplaced and it has been year or more. Most of the time cleaning our wardrobe leads to its overhaul. You know what I mean. 

 It freshens my memory every time I go to buy Diyas at the same old shop when I was a kid. That feeling is so good to go through even if it is for a moment.  Buying Diyas, candles and all these fancy strings of light just make it all beautiful all around., you will see rows of houses decorated with colorful lights. It feels surreal to witness so much beauty as if stars descended on earth. I personally love earthen diyas and Rangolis.

We ditch the denim and the slim fits for once and bring out our ethnic best. Be it zaridaar sarees or embellished lehengas and Anarkalis, looking our best to get those ethenic wear candid pictures for our gram.

Environmentalists, please pardon me, but crackers do mark the festivity. I don’t like the pollution and the noise generated by the crackers. But if community cracker bursting is done at one place for a limited period of time then a lot can be managed in terms of pollution. I do find them extremely beautiful when rockets burst into zillion sparkling stars or anars spew a fountain of spark.

Sweets are an integral part of this festival. People share sweets, gift it to near and dear ones, and offer it to the guests. Laddoos, gulab-jamun, emarti, jalebi but not to forget our beloved sweet of the season “Sonpapadi”.

Beautiful people, wearing beautiful dresses, eating delicious food, and enjoying a beautiful evening; all this needs to be captured. Isn’t it? That is where camera and phones come handy and we go all around clicking pictures and selfies during Diwali.

So can we imagine a life without festivals? Impossible, right? It’s hard to overlook their importance in our lives because they take us out of the daily boredom. I am one of those who feel really sad after the festival passes.

 They are often reasons for bringing the family together, making friends and celebrating the very spirit of mankind. We are made to spread happiness. We are meant to share good times. Festivals motivate us to be better people and to share our joy with the world.

Also read, Declutter your thoughts this Diwali.

One life. Live Boundless.