Diwali is special to everyone. Diwali brings light and happiness. It is a big festive day for Indians.
As a kid from 80’s, I have always been excited about Diwali festival. We used to wait for this moment.
The best thing about Diwali is that it brings many festivals along with it. Diwali celebration usually starts three days before the actual Diwali.
The first day is Dhanteras followed by Narak chaudas/Choti Diwali and then main Diwali.
Usually on Diwali, people buy new furniture, appliances, drapes , clothes gifts etc.
In our house we celebrated Diwali in a modest way at the same time maintain the ritual and tradition.
Our Diwali preparation started with white washing and cleaning the house.
My mom never took help of maids, we kids were her helpers.
We helped her in everything from cooking to cleaning.
After white wash was done. We had to arrange all the household stuffs in the house. My favorite part was cleaning our book shelves and arranging the books.
After house cleaning, came the cooking part. Mom made different sweets, gujiya, dahi- vada, namkeen etc. and we all helped her in this preparation.
We used to be very excited helping mom in cooking these dishes, as we got to eat while cooking.
The last and the most important part was shopping for diyas, candles, puffed rice, Batasha and fire crackers.
We used to be very excited about the fire crackers. As kids we boasted in class of how many firecrackers we bursted.
On Diwali day, I remember being so happy. I used to get dressed in new clothes. Before touching any sweets or fire cracker…we had to do the pooja… which felt like a never ending process. After we started playing with crackers there was no end…mom had to call us several times for Dinner.
A day after Diwali , we exchanged gifts with friends and neighbors. It involved exchanging of thalis/trey – which will contain puffed rice, Gujiya, sweets and some namkeen. My sister and I will be doing this job… running to the neighbors to gift our Thalis. They will take our stuff, change it a little bit by adding their sweets and prepare a return thali for us to take home.
Whole afternoon will be spent in this and we use to be so exhausted by evening.
Diwali is over now and somewhere in my heart I am already missing it.
Will wait for Diwali next year.
