This Diwali

Hi All!

Hope this Diwali is extremely enjoyable for everyone, your families and your bfs/gfs …

At home we have lit the house, made cookies and chocolates.. Tomorrow there is pooja at office. at 8:30 in the morning. See. See, this is why I don’t like religions. On the  one day off they will make u wake up early! Will try to put up pics.

I was sitting here, in my room… the noise outside remote. And was thinking to myself. Whom would I love to be with this Diwali and what would we possibly do. I thought of Malu, and tara. We could start off with a Dominos special pizzas for four … And the Shallot Pizza! .. Followed by icecream all stored in the freezer. And we could watch You’ve got mail yet again, or ten things I hate about you, or letters to juliet (a recent rom-com – must watch!). Or even gossip Girl, though that would involve taralika’s initiation.

After the food high would die, Tara might try to talk us in to going commando for work and fall asleep (yes that is after the food high dies!). While malu and I would chat away, if sleep did not fluster our eyes. And may be we would even find that forgotten bottle of red wine and watch the sun rise. And be the devils to scream our way in to tara’s sleep and go for a walk followed by Cha!

And if Jozzy was free we could fly away on our broom sticks, with Gryffindor hearts! In our heads we would walk through secret passages, turn through tapestries, speak to the armours, and run up the changing staircases with vanishing steps! And try making an infusion of wormwood and asphodel.

That would be a lovely Diwali. But till then, we have cookies, and chocolates – almond rocks, liqueur, fudge!

Hope you all have a safe and jolly time!

Diwali

As I entered the gurudwara, after slipping off my shoes and ensuring that the dupatta covered my head ( I dread being forced into line publically, so I have had to learn to comply consciously), my mother suddenly stopped in front of me and turned saying, “Do you know what Diwali means to Us?”. Drawing from me a silence I knew she sought, she continued to explain.  Her eyes that cry on cutting onions, and laugh at a Govinda movie, that hurl abuses at the younglings who make the evening an utter mess and disgrace in my muhalla, now were large with and I suspect wet with pious and faith, and success as she spoke, explaining yet again why it was named the Bandhi Chhod Diwas. I had known the story for long, but not its name. After all I have heard it every Diwali for 23 years now!

I usually evade the ritual and courtesy most wear on their sleeves, of going to temples and mosques. May be its because I am plain lazy, not to forget the black sheep of my family (there are too many tales about that! Something I do intend to put to paper soon) or simply because I find it a tad too boring. I hope to encapsulate why.

As we sat this Diwali in the Gurudwara, while the rest of Delhi burst crackers and did the lights, we heard a lady granthi sing a hymn. I should not comment upon the singing as I too only secure the kind audience of my self and the mirror if at all, I could hardly ignore the general fatigue that had burdened the mood there! To my misery, everyone was either singing along, or staring onwards with glassy eyes! It seemed more of a funeral than a communion with God. And in case one wanted just that, a communion, it was best to pursue it individually, not trouble others with norms, glares, and not to forget the chanting-cum-clamorous singing. And the little boy! Oh the little boy, firangi and all, was just a delight! Especially so as he was conducting his antics in the temple. Standing apart from the congregation he alone captured the purpose behind so many 1oos of us there. Dancing, trust me with his booty swinging to the beat! he was a joy! Why did we all laugh and smile at him, not cause he was cute, (after all no one was smiling at me!) but because he was having fun. He was being himself, lost for the moment in the music and no, not for attracting attention or anything! But not for long. The long gnarled hands of authority came out from nowhere and seated him next to his grandma. That’s when I left, there was really nothing left to see.