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A classic Deepavali at home begins in the morning with getting up early and collecting the diyas from the ledges outside home, which were lit on the previous night of Choti Diwali (i.e., the night of the month of Ashwin when the moon had almost hidden itself).Then, scores of clerks and other employees coming home for some gifts, followed by family friends and relatives exchanging greetings and gifts all day round. A standard tray containing four plates – two of dry fruits, and two of sweetmeats, is usually arranged in the morning, and is served to everyone who visits. In the afternoon, when people are not expected, the postal greetings to various people are finalised, and would be mailed the following day.
Early evening: a Rangoli is composed at the entrance.
Real Diwali begins at around seven in the evening, when all the lights outside the house are lit, and the temple room is cleaned and re-decorated. Other important samagri (ingredients) like a large plate (thaal) containing a steel water container (lota), rice grains, sugar crystals, red powder (sindoor), sacred red thread (mauli), gold and silver coins, apart from the recent ingenious practice of keeping credit and debit cards (as representatives of cash ledgers) for poojan. There is a Ganesh-Laxmi idol, candles and diyas also present at the poojan. The poojan takes around twenty minutes, with the standard conclusion with an aarti. After the poojan, the entire house is lit, with candles and diyas in every corner of the house.
Thereafter, the family sits and chats, plays cards for a while. Till my father’s younger brother and his family arrives. There is excellent home-made dinner and lots of laughs and teasing. Then everybody retires to the drawing room where savouring the dessert (usually kheer), the adults discuss business, colleagues/co-workers/employees, family, politics, family politics, health, religion, children, food and cricket, while the youngsters-college, careers, movies, music, friends, food and sport, and the still younger ones - school, friends, playtime, playstations and food. All this is amidst heavy noise of firecrackers and suffocating smoke. I think I have been a privy to the discussion with all the three classes of people at each of the last four Diwalis. When I began to be recognised as belonging to the first class, when I actually fitted in the second. And well, the third has always been my favourite, though sadly it hardly has any members now.
Right now, I’m just sipping cheap dirty port wine, sitting alone in my room, wondering why I’ve been foolish and why I can't work even if I have been.
