Diwali and some thoughts around it !

clarence123 · Post by **clarence123** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 8:45 pm

It has been 9 years since I celebrated Diwali in India.

Those initial years in US, I used to make a determination myself that the next vacation should be planned only around Oct-Nov so that I can also enjoy Diwali with all my family, extended family and friends.

But kids grown up and life changed according to their schedule and that has become a distant dream..

While in India, especially in schooling years, I used to long for the Diwali day to come. Food, sweets, Firecrackers, meeting friends who came home like me from all the different places (hostels to be precise), every home having guests / relatives packed, flash powder in everyone's hand, keep echoing the firecrackers sound every second/minute across the village... Simply put, ultimate enjoyment, happiness around complete chaos.

I used to take a lead in arranging Diwali party here both on the official circle and personal circle.. we used to have family get-together especially with firecrackers for all the kids.. We have never missed this in all these years and that made my longing go away and don't feel like I am missing anything great..

But today morning I had to call one of my offshore counterpart for an update .. He asked me to hold on for a min because he is helping his kid to launch a rocket.. while holding the line for few mins, I was kept on hearing the loud noise of crackers bursting everywhere... Those few mins again brought me that feel that I thought I overcame ..

Hopefully you guys might have something to share in similar lines.. Thought why not start a thread and share your feelings..

Btw, Wish you and familes a very happy Diwali !

oasis138 · Post by **oasis138** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 8:53 pm

I love crackers (please dont make this post into a debate on noise pollution etc) and have missed bursting them 6 of the 9 years I have been in US. The other 3 years I was fortunate to plan trip around Diwali. I hope to be in India for good by the time Diwali comes in 2013. Btw 2 years back when I was in India i was able to put down 5000/- rs and get a 10000 wala lari...i miss this day the most living in US.

PeterGriffin · Post by **PeterGriffin** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:02 pm

Diwali brings back the best memories for me as a kid in India. Diwali in my household used to be the best day of the year. Our entire family on my dad's side used to meet up at our place including my grandparents (a total of 15-16 of us). My grandma used to wake us up at 4AM to do the customary aarthi and all the kids were oiled up for a nice warm shikakai head bath. Kitchen was busy with cooking on one side and hot water boiling on the other for our baths. Grandpa was usually busy with playing a traditional nadaswaram tape or a violin concert of Kunnakudi vaidyanathan.
The moment we were done with our showers, it was the time to put the traditional kumkum on our new clothes and grab our share of the fire crackers. We would come back a few hours later and have our breakfast and head back to join our friends with the elders joining in on the fun. My mom's side of the family would join us for a nice sumptuous lunch with lots of sweets and my favorite coconut burfi and mysorepak! Ummmmmm!!!
We used to spend the whole day and the evening outside with friends while the next day morning would be post-diwali depression (PDD)!
Out here in the US, it feels like PDD even on Diwali day.

bigdreamer · Post by **bigdreamer** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:32 pm

PG -
My experience is quite similar during those childhood days. Waking up 4am, oil bath, wear new clothes, grab our share of the crackers and start bursting away. I would later trade my crackers for bijli vedi's (solo's or single's) so I could go on bursting the whole day. Experiment some rajni style kinda bursting those bijli & laxmi vedis - lighting them by hand and throwing them up in the air. During teenage, would go to see thalaivar's (rajnikanth) Diwali release movie first day first show, titles & intro scene background score replaced by audience screaming and crackers outside the theatre... Those were the days...

Btw, what does PDD mean?

Man · Post by **Man** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:37 pm

PeterGriffin;419404Diwali brings back the best memories for me as a kid in India. Diwali in my household used to be the best day of the year. Our entire family on my dad's side used to meet up at our place including my grandparents (a total of 15-16 of us). My grandma used to wake us up at 4AM to do the customary aarthi and all the kids were oiled up for a nice warm shikakai head bath. Kitchen was busy with cooking on one side and hot water boiling on the other for our baths. Grandpa was usually busy with playing a traditional nadaswaram tape or a violin concert of Kunnakudi vaidyanathan.
The moment we were done with our showers, it was the time to put the traditional kumkum on our new clothes and grab our share of the fire crackers. We would come back a few hours later and have our breakfast and head back to join our friends with the elders joining in on the fun. My mom's side of the family would join us for a nice sumptuous lunch with lots of sweets and my favorite coconut burfi and mysorepak! Ummmmmm!!!
We used to spend the whole day and the evening outside with friends while the next day morning would be post-diwali depression (PDD)!
Out here in the US, it feels like PDD even on Diwali day.

I hesitated whether to write anything dampening on a Diwali day yesterday in RBee's thread along the same lines...started to write yesterday then canceled out..I am so happy to read everyone's vivid posts about Diwali. ....
Diwali to me is always bittersweet. Sweet because it is an occasion for a silent prayer of thanks for being blessed with such abundance.. of family.. of friends.. of fortune. But bitter becasue I find my longing for home intensified manifold. And in my case it is not because of anything I do remember about home, and how it used to be, but because of there being no tangible memory at all. The years lost in the lonesome labyrinth of a life in exile have indeed taken their toll and robbed off the canvas of my mind the last vestiges of any remembrance. Every year this day my thoughts scan through the faded pages of my minds album...sometimes with a frantic frenzy...other times with measured and deliberate pressure...an incident...a smile...a smell...a taste...perhaps even a tear..a moment that is mine...in a real sense..something unborrowed from the cliches of movies'n'books....a futile hope to locate a precious moment etched in a corner that time overlooked to blank....only to find the sterile nothingness of reason tell me to just be grateful for the present....as even my dreams hope for a future to give birth to Diwali memories anew...before long....before its too late..and the sun sets..

LotsOfRokda · Post by **LotsOfRokda** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:55 pm

Miss it the most on this day. Ritual for this day would be- Abhyangsnan in the morning with sugandhi utane after massage at 5.00 am in the morning from mom. Bath with special soap (mysore sandal or lux- one day when we would spend on an expensive soap over lifebuoy everyday) and new clothes. followed by eating bitter fruit or fried neem leaf - eating bitter stuff before eating all the sweets and the bitter fruit also symbolizes the rakhsasa. Then faraal (karanji, spicy singdana, ladu, anarse, chakli from two containers- one made by mom and one sent by relatives. All this done by 7.00 am and then burst crackers.

9 am -we would all gather in the complex and start our rounds- ringing all dorrbells, wish and get food from each house (100 apts). Some people would get the best stuff out for the kids. Some would have 2 trays- one with cheaper candies for kids and one for adults with all home-made goodies. We would never miss two houses. These had old granny and granpa , who would give each child a rupee or two.

As we grew up , the girls would then visit the temple nearby. A time for teasing of the girl gang by the guys gang as all were best dressed that day..
Just plain fun!

LotsOfRokda · Post by **LotsOfRokda** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:55 pm

the bitter fruit was called kareet..dont know what it is called elsewhere!

rajradio · Post by **rajradio** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:41 pm

Three things happen during diwali.
1. we invoke our dead elders, this is always fun. Some great grandfather gets named and we say good things about him. I love this bit.
2. crackers: I used to like them not anymore. My older girl goes crazy on them. Now occasionally the granma goes says things like " common girls shouldnt get close to crackers...blah...blah", it just spurs her on she bursts more crackers. Just love to see how independant she is getting. Always wanted the kids to have a "contrarian" view of things.
3. Now we are newly into business, so we open our account books, nice feeling to put "shubh-labh" on the books....

like Man said the only dark cloud is I miss the family and I couldnt travel last weekend, will leave for desh this weekend.

"daddy, I made mummy book "Ra-one", tickets for us, then i kept some crackers for you in my cupboard, then, naani made some arisalu( same ones sai was talking about)..please come soon"

This is of course the more emotionally labile younger one screaming( breathless from screaming at home and having fun" on the phone. cant wait.

Those of us LIA, our kids dont even have an idea how much fun it is in India. I see so much change in the kids...they used to always go "ummm mummy do we have to this" back in US. Now they are so involved in the world around them. now the younger one goes and chooses pattu pavadis, wants matching this...that everything upto bindis need to be accesorised. I keep telling my wife " some guy will far for her looks and repent all his life"(I add like me very softly at the end)

funnily, I stopped going to US temples for these occasions, it is such a damp squib. US is not India period.

RK

KirKS · Post by **KirKS** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:25 pm

I probably missed 12 Deepavalis in my life.. I mean *real* noise, light & fun filled Diwalis. I can understand the nostalgic vacuum many of you are feeling today.

Fortunately, not any more for us for 3 years now.. Had a fantastic 2 days of Diwali already in 2011, with 1 more day of fun to go :)

So my dear Videshi Deshis...

Do you miss the 360 degrees of awesome fireworks from a terrace?

[YOUTUBE]5qe8yDtKaLE[/YOUTUBE]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qe8yDtKaLE

Do you miss the combination of night lights, pataki (cracker) at every street, bursting rockets and ever changing color of skies & landscape?

[YOUTUBE]lX7i3r6t--M[/YOUTUBE]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX7i3r6t--M

Do you recall the nostalgia of you or family kids or school friends lighting lamps like this?

Do you wish you helped your kid tonight to form this beautiful Swastika of lamps?

Are you nostalgic about that neighboring girl, who went about lighting diyas from diyas?

Do you wish you or your children proudly displayed.. THIS is what Diwali means for you?

Money can buy most things in the world..
but some things like Deepavali fun in India, are irreplaceable and priceless!

LotsOfRokda · Post by **LotsOfRokda** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:38 pm

Kirks,
you just made it worse.