Diwali - A Reason to Sparkle !

Diwali or Deepavali means rows of diyas (light in clay lamps). It’s a festival that brings India together, brings hope that light will vanquish the spiritual darkness and that good will triumph over evil. Diwali also marks the end of the harvest season in most of India. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year in North and some parts of Western India. Diwali helps to unite cultures, customs and religions in the flow of its celebrations. No wonder President Obama lit a lamp in the White House. The celebrations start from the day of Dhanteras and extends till the final day of Bhai dooj.

Strangely Diwali also brings back fond memories from my childhood. As soon as the half yearly examinations were over, our school would remain closed for almost 12-15 days. Teachers would give little homework and on the last day of school, we could experience little sadness for missing school and friends. But all this would be short lived.

The school vacations always coincided with mother’s holidays. That meant sheer joy - spending time at home instead in a crèche. Mother would spend her mornings correcting the examination papers from her school and afternoons will be lined up with plenty of chores. She will ensure that we helped her clean our cupboards, drawers and the house and later decorate it for Diwali. In the evenings we would visit shops near the Aarey Road or M.G. Road, and get spices, cereals, masalas, dry fruits and other ingredients required for preparing the delectable Diwali snacks (faral). Along with this, she would buy colourful Rangoli powder.

The mornings would be spent on the play ground, and the afternoons reading or sleeping. A visit to local flour mill was quite enjoyable. It provided necessary lessons in operations research and theory of machines. The big machine would finely grind the various grains and cereals. The small spindle would start rotating and the belt would keep running producing wonderful music. After some time, the machine operator cum proprietor would hit the machine with a small nut or hammer so as to ensure the finely grinded flour seamlessly trickles in the container below. The clinking iof metal would produce a wonderful melody. This was the time when the flour mills would do flourishing business. The Steel tins (dabba) would be covered by flour from all sides. Every dabba would contain 5- 6 kg of various flour mixes of various cereals and grains. Soon this flour would be used to prepare dough that later turned into delectable "chaklis", "karanji", "shankarpali", other sweets and namkeen items. Closer to Diwali, mom would take huge quantity of dry Poha in a big kaddai (vessel) and fry in little oil. In it she will generously add peanuts, chillies, raisins, cashew and garnish with coriander seeds, jeera, turmeric, masala, salt and a tasty chivda is ready to munch anytime.

A week before Diwali, it was time for shopping. It was fun to walk through the crowded station road, watching all those well decorated shops selling fancy items. Almost every shop boasted with signs promoting hefty discount and bumper sale. The shops were well lit and every where people had big smile on their faces. Somehow the crowd never diminished near the Azad Shopping Center – perhaps the biggest mall in Goregaon west then. The Dawood showroom on the ground floor displayed new designs of shoes and sandals that would shine sparkle and smile at you from the glass shelf. The nearby Bata show room had its salesmen standing on the street and eagerly beckon you inside their showroom. I think, Siddhartha was the only authorized shop selling Raymonds and Vimal brand of fabric. Bandra - Linking Road, Aarsa and Nadco shopping center at Andheri and Fashion Street at Churchgate were still unheard of.

The best part of the shopping was buying different kinds of crackers and fire works. No matter how many crackers we bought, as children we always remain insatiated. A new pair of shoes, gifts and new set of clothes to be worn on auspicious Diwali days were almost mandatory. Women’s shopping was always painful and my sister never seemed to like the colour or the design of dresses which my mom chose. Mom would rarely shop for herself but whenever she did, it was a boring. A visit to a saree shop taught us lessons in patience but in hindsight she seems to be much quicker, decisive and guess even more prudent in shopping than my wife. Dad would hardly indulge in shopping but on our insistence would reluctantly buy some shirt and dress material for trousers. Finally shopping was over and I suspect major part of our parent’s salary must have been blown by this time.

It was now time to make a small beautiful lantern (Akaash-Kandil). Mom and I would visit the nearby stationary shops and get some small bamboo sticks, colour papers, strings and glue. At a time when fevicol and joker gum were un-invented, rather un-imagined, the glue would be prepared at home made up of wheat or rice paste. Every afternoon, Mom will teach me how to prepare an akaash – Kandil. This continued for many years and every year there will be new design. Sometimes we even used thermocol and prepared lanterns. Ironically, today the same lanterns are purchased by us at hefty price. Meanwhile, the bamboos would be neatly cut and tied in a diamond shape on the sides. It would be firmly supported from the top and the bottom. Later the colour papers were neatly cut and glued covering the hollow bamboo square shapes. Long paper stripes would be attached as tails. After two days, the lamp would be dangling royally in our balcony. A small electric bulb would bring life to it and radiate the various colours. The light from this lantern would act as a spotlight on the rangoli below. In those days every building in the colony would display some large, beautiful designed and often star shaped lanterns.

Celebrations
On the first day of Diwali, we would wake up early around 4: 30 a.m. Before our bath, we would apply scented oil and utaney or ubtan (herbal scented paste using besan, oil, milk and some herbal paste). I reckon Moti soaps would have flourishing sales during Diwali. Immediately after our bath we would wear new clothes and rush down to lit fire crackers. In our building a small competition ensued, as to who will burst the first fire cracker (preferably atom bomb) early in the morning. Those days ‘captain’ brand bombs or a sutli (green threaded) bomb produced massive noise that woke up everyone in the colony. A chap named Sanjeev whom we affectionately called Pappu regularly won this competition except once. That year I burst a bomb even before having my bath somewhere around 4:20 a.m. Well, I don’t remember Sanjeev waking up early the rest of the year or was it the other way round!

Later in the day, we would perform a small pooja at home and then we would be ready to gormandise on Diwali faral (delicacies) consisting of delectable sweets such as "karanji", "ladoo" made from Besan and Rawa, "shankarpali" and “barfi”, "mithai" as well as some spicy eatables like "Chakli", "Shev" and "Chivda". In addition there will be plenty of dry fruits.

A visit to the famous Ayyappa Temple at Bangur Nagar and Ambe Mata Mandir near Aarey Road was always on the card. Later we would carry some faral and distribute it amongst our relatives and neighbours. They also reciprocated generously. Fortunately or unfortunately there is no tradition of gambling amongst Maharashtrians albeit some of them are now actively participating in stock markets! In the evenings, mom and sister would draw colourful rangoli design. Everybody would flaunt their new clothes. The dark night soon gets illuminated by hundreds of lamps, lanterns and crackers are bursted non stop.

Five Day Festival
A lunar half-month is 15 days. Diwali as a new-moon day marks the last day of a 15-day period. The celebration starts after worshipping Lord Ganesha. As against other parts of the country, Diwali is a three day festival in Bengal, with the first two days being of utmost importance.
In Maharashtra, Diwali starts from Vasubaras which is the 12th day of the 2nd half of the month of Ashwin. In rural areas, this day is celebrated by performing an Aarti of the cow and its calf- which is a symbol of love between mother and her baby. In the rest of the country, Diwali starts from Dhanatrayodashi or Dhanteras. Dhan means "wealth" and Teras means "13th day". Thus, as the name implies, this day falls on the 13th day of the second half of the lunar month. It is an auspicious day for shopping of gold & Silver Ornaments, Idols & Coins and God yantras. Some Maharastrians families would worship cash, jewellery and an idol of the Goddess Laxmi.
Naraka Chaturdasi or Choti Diwali: Chaturdasi is the fourteenth day on which demon Narakasura was killed. It signifies the victory of good over evil and light over darkness.
Laxmi- poojan or Diwali comes on the third day. It occurs on Amavasya i.e. no moon day. Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity is welcomed by offering traditional pujas. The business community places their new accounting books in front of the Laxmi deity and offers puja for the well being of the business. In the evening, the Bombay stock exchange performs a token bidding called Muhurat trading and for the past few years this event is beamed across through various TV channels. Generally the traders would buy stock for their kids or grandchildren as security and would not sell it. These traders do not make any payments on that day (according to their belief Laxmi should not be given away but must come home). In every household, cash, jewellery and an idol of the goddess Laxmi is worshipped.
The fourth day is known as ‘Padwa', ‘Bali Pratipada’ or ‘Govardhan Puja’ and it falls on the 1st day of the new month – Kartik, in the Hindu calendar. It is celebrated as the first day of the Vikram Samvat calendar, in Gujarat. In Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it is celebrated as Bali-Pratipada or Bali Padyami. The day commemorates the victory of Vishnu in his dwarf form Vamana over demon-king Bali, who was pushed to the nether world and the return of Bali to earth from the nether-world. In Maharashtra, it is called as Padava or Nava Diwas ("new day"). Wives would perform Aarti and men in turn would present gifts to their wives on this day. In North India, it is celebrated as Govardhan puja, also called Annakut, and is celebrated as the day Lord Krishna defeated God Indra by lifting the Govardhana hill to save his kinsmen and cattle from rain and floods.
The fifth day known as Bhaubeej or Bhai dooj is the time where the bond of love between a brother and sister is further strengthened. The sisters offer prayers for the general well being of their brothers. Gifts are exchanged expressing brotherly feelings of love and affection.

Significance
Diwali is not just celebrated by the Hindus but also by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. It has different reasons of significance for all these communities. In Hinduism there are various reasons for its celebrations. In north, Lord Ram comes home to Ayodhya emerging victorious from Lanka. Down south, the demon Naraka Asura is vanquished by Lord Krishna. Meanwhile in west, Lord Vishnu buries Bali under the earth and in East; an enraged Goddess Kali beheads the demons. In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of Nirvana by Lord Mahavira. In Sikhism, the festival of Diwali is significant in accordance with the illumination of the city of Amritsar, on the homecoming of Guru Har Gobindji. Guru Har Gobindji, along with many Hindu gurus were imprisoned by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. After he got free from the prison, he went to the golden temple in Amritsar. The entire city of Amritsar is lit with lamps. The festival of Diwali is also celebrated by some sections of Buddhists.

Well technology and times have changed and so have the styles of celebration. But the fervor and enthusiasm hasn’t diminished at all. Undoubtedly there are different reasons for cheer but indeed a cracker of festival! …

Here’s wishing all a Very Happy, Sparkling and Safe Diwali!