Noiseless Diwali

November 1, 2008 

With half of the country celebrating Diwali on Monday and the Northern part ringing in the festival of lights on Tuesday, one knew all was well with the world. Because, the confusion prevailed over when was Deepavali actually? “When in Rome, do as Romans do”, is one principle I follow when it comes to festivals; if we are living North and our Diwali falls a day before, then we celebrate it both the days. It’s bursting crackers and eating sweets after all - so  how does it affect anyone anyway other than adding a few hundred calories :)

This Diwali was different though. First, with V being away it wasn’t fun hauling myself alone to do clothes shopping, preparing sweets at home and letting LG cling on to me every time something burst or lit up the sky - so much as a sparkler. This was perhaps the first time as far back as my memory goes, that I have spent the least on fireworks - precisely Rs.97.5 which included two sparkler boxes, one snake (yea, that polluting one!) tablet, a plastic gun and three rolls of cape. Except a roll of cape, the rest remains unopened. So much for Diwali!

I had worked out a master-plan to prepare LG for what was coming, a day or two before. Bangalore, unfortunately is not like the smaller towns of India where one finds it hard to have a uninterrupted 2-minute conversation a week before Diwali. With schools closed, kids ring in the celebration way ahead of time. As a kid, I remember meticulously drying the 100-walas in the Sun just to ensure they stayed dry on D-day. And, then there was the elaborate task of removing the single pieces from the 500-wala so that we had enough stock to keep us going for a week. Now, that was fun! Coming back to my plan for LG, I got a gun and a cape and surprised him with two or three shots as he ran for cover. A few minutes later when I went to fix his lunch, he hid it in the tool cabinet, locked it and waved his hand saying “kaanum” (read:lost) - imitating my actions for stuff I would want out of his reach. His way of expressing he wasn’t too happy with it. I tried a few more times before giving up on Diwali. The Diwali evening was again a quiet one. We were mere spectators for sometime as the rest of the people in the apartment tried their hands namesake on a few 100-walas. And Diwali was over.

The weirdest thing in the whole episode was all the kids in the neighborhood were seated quietly out of fear by one side with hands clutched to their ears while the parents took turns in finishing the stock. I am amazed at how times have changed. It’s more about wearing new clothes, having some days off from school and nothing about crackers. Good for the environment-conscious and against-child-labor kids.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Noiseless Diwali”

  1. Vaz on November 6th, 2008 9:03 am

    Lakshmi,

    I had been waiting for your blog from quite a while. I expected you to write one on Diwali though.I read it today after 6 days of writing it.Anyways, Diwali being bright sounds better than noisy.Noiseless Diwali was nice.Keep writing and I keep reading ( a dedicated FAN of yours) :)

  2. Lakshmi on November 6th, 2008 3:28 pm

    Vasanta,

    Thank you. That’s an inspiration to post everyday. I’m doing (or trying to) do a post everyday as part of NaBloPoMo - http://nablopomo.ning.com/ - through November over at the other blog on LG. So if you are okay reading about the non-stop banter of a toddler, hop over to http://lgrules.blogspot.com :)

    - Lakshmi

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