Festival of Lights

Now that Deepavali (Diwali) is just a week away, I thought sharing my memories of the festival with all of you... As far as I know there isn't a soul who does not enjoy this wonderful festival of diyas. It is one of my favorite festivals.

As a kid, I used to wait for this festival mainly for three things. The first is that I would get a chance to eat a wide variety of sweets and yummy snacks(ummmmmm.... my mouth already waters ). All our neighbours used to exchange savories. This was particularly special because most of my neighbours were from different parts of India. That's how I came to know of Gujarati dhokla and thepla, Tamilian carrot
payasam, Bengali sandesh, etc.

The second thing I used to look forward to was to light fire crackers. As a kid I was very scared of bombs - Laxmi bomb, Atom bomb, Rocket, Sema tapas etc. I used to just light Kakarabottulu (sparklers), Bhoo-Chakralu, Chichubudlu (flower pots), Onion bombs and other small things and I haven't changed till today.

Finally, every girl's dream: shopping, shopping, shopping!!! My mom and I would shop for new clothes for all of us. Nowadays, even if I wear new clothes on a festive occassion, I don't get into the same festive mood as there isn't any hullabulla or the
noise of festival around me. I miss those sorroundings where everyone around me was enjoying the festival busily and noisily.

There was always a lot of hungama in the weeks preceding Diwali. My mom used to plan ahead as to what special items to make for that year. She used to start preparing sweets and khara a week before. Because, my brother Babloo was never used to be fussy, she made items that I liked the most - tokkudu laddu, murukulu, mixture, aavada, garelu, panchadara poori etc. She was very good at making Bobbattlu, so it was not just I who used to demand her, but all my mamayyas, attayyas, pinnis and my paternal babayyas used to relish them too.

As you can see my mom used to most of the work (with a little bit of help from my brother), and my main help was in eating the great foods! I now realize how much she used to toil for us without any complaints, and it makes me love her and miss her even more!

On the day of Diwali we used to get up early as my dad was very particular that we got up early and had a bath. Or may be we used to get up early because our neighbors would start the noisy fireworks by 5am. Once again my mom used to make all kinds of specials that day, as all four of us would be home.

In the evening, my mother did Laxmi Pooja and would light diyas all around the house. All four of us used to wear new clothes and participated in the pooja. This used to be the best part: your house covered with shining diyas, their lights shimmering in a gentle breeze... In between all these we used have icchu kuntinamma vaayanam, pucchu kuntinamma vaayanam- meaning we used to exchange the savories with our neighbours. Finally, as the Sun finally set, the sizzling dhamakas would begin.

Wow! Those enchanting memories keep their magical hold on my heart.


Finally, some tidbits of information extracted from Wikipedia:

Did you know that Diwali is celebrated in countries other than India? In England, the days are Dhanteras, Narak Chatrudashi, Lakshmi-Puja, the most important day, Padwa or Varshapratipanda and Bhaiya Dooj or the Teeka Ceremony. In Trinidad and Tobago, the day of Divali is a public holiday and celebrations precede the Lakshmi-Puja day for almost two weeks. This event is one of the foremost religious observances for the country. You can find more on this here.