Diwali of today and yesteryears!!!

Today is the festival of lights (if you come here and see you will find that it is more of sound than light), but this noisy atmosphere, the sweets prepared(we prefer to buy them though), the brand new clothes(not that they are branded, but they are new), preferably non-vegetarian food(there are exceptions) make this festival one of its kind. I still hear the blatant roars of the fireworks, it commenced somewhere around 6'o clock in the morning and from then on i(not just me, the whole of Chennai)haven't had a good sleep.

But this time around i didn't have a sound Diwali, if not for the noisy fireworks around which are creating a lot of sound pollution, all we had this Diwali is some sweets and nuts, then the non-veggie lunch followed by the dinner(dinner not yet done), then the most welcome holiday  ( am already on my study holidays, but Pappa and Rakesh have taken advantage of the holiday). And mummy had prepared a time-table of to-be-seen movies in the tv, she is equally busy with that as Rakesh is with sleeping and Pappa with irritating her(i too join Pappa). Sunil mama and his family were there for lunch, then by evening Jacob sir and family had come along and i made Sweetlime(mossambi) juice for them(yes, i am proud :) ). Then Jacob sir left for the fear of these fireworks all around, so that they get home before people get engaged in hardcore bursts(the streets out here are less traversed on Diwali because of these crackers out there). Even Sunil mama left early for the same reason.

I didn't even wish any of my friends, i really didn't feel like wishing this time (hey,if you are reading this, hope you had a safe Diwali buddy). Almost everyone in my contacts list had wished me still i didn't manage to wish back. Myself and Rakesh said a NO to crackers(no not because of excessive noise pollution but lack of interest and i call it laziness), and we didn't buy brand new clothes as well, though i bought some 2 weeks back but not on account of Diwali. I actually planned to study for my exams but this dissonance around doesn't help me study either. Now let me talk of my Diwali experience way back.

The first time i celebrated Diwali was at Trivandrum way back in 1999 i suppose. At Palakkad we never used to celebrate Diwali that well(no firecrackers for sure). But having migrated to Trivandrum then, i joined the people around me and had fun bursting crackers with my colony mates there. I did buy new clothes, it was holiday time and it was fun. So almost 3 years of Diwali celebrations at Trivandrum was great.

And then after that we were back to Palakkad and as usual we had a rather quiet Diwali. And even in the year 2006 i had a nice Diwali, we were at Chennai and Vijayan Uncle(my dad's cousin) had opened a shop for selling crackers and stuffs and i spent most of my time there, it was nice and that was just when i was introduced to all the weird names of these various kinds of crackers and these pyrotechnic devices. And i even found time to burst a lot of these things then creating trouble for the people who drove through my street, we burst a lot of crackers then and even Pappa joined us. We had a lot of company to finish of our stock(of crackers).

The year 2007 was also nice, it was fun then with Sajeesh etta, Sree etta and many others too. Though not much of crackers and stuffs then again it was fun, at Usha aunts terrace we had a nice glimpse of whatever was happening around us, the rockets and the staircase wala stuffs(that the cracker-enthusiasts nearby had burst)  and everything. And Usha aunt had prepared a lot of sweets as well. We even burst crackers at the terrace and in front of our house and i was trying to break the laws which said bursting crackers after 10 pm is an offense. But this time it is all different, there is no one around and lesser the people lesser is the fun and joy. Sajeesh etta and Sree etta at Banglore (well both of them have jobs) and even Nisha Chechi (though at Chennai, she is also working now). So this year it is a different Diwali . But it is also nice to just be a spectator, no risks lol ;). 

Hope you had a joyous Diwali. If you have any of your Diwali experiences that you would like to share, it would be a privilege to host it in here.

PS:- Diwali is a festival in India. It is very much significant among the Hindus, Sikhs and Jains in particular.