Diwali lite

There’s something about the festival of Diwali that brings out the best in human nature.  It suddenly feels as if, all around us, things start getting better—the smiles widen, the honking on the road doesn’t seem as loud, the unwanted interruption from somebody wanting to sell you a holiday package to Timbuktu doesn’t seem as intrusive.  I guess it’s similar in some sense to Christmas, where the “Yuletide Spirit” suddenly surfaces and amazes all of us with its intensity, a Hurricane Sandy intended to heal, not harm.  It makes you want to be able to hold on to it for the rest of the year, and to carry forward the feelings of festivity and forgiveness beyond the single week that it typically stays for.

As one gets older, it is but natural that one starts thinking about how Diwali was celebrated when one was as young as one’s children are today.  My strongest memories of Diwali would get me a lecture on “environmental abuse” from my 9 year old, so I tend not to reminisce verbally about them.  Oh, the days when the firecrackers were loud and bright, and a young boy’s machismo was determined by the courage to light the biggest “bomb” with the shortest fuse, and to be able to preserve both hand and ear in the process of doing so!  The rockets, with their long whistling sound as they hurtled towards the moon (or probably the neighbouring house with their curvilinear trajectory) were always one of my favourites.  A close second were the “anaar-bombs” or flowerpots which gushed flames with the amorous intensity of newly-weds, and then exploded with a loud bang, fooling everyone who thought they were supposedly child-friendly.  The “seetis” were also fun, small cylindrical whistles which would rise in the air and go in any direction they felt like with a banshee-like sound trailing behind them.  And by the time it was 10 PM, you could barely make out what was going on, as the streets were full of smoke and one’s hearing had been dulled by the record-breaking decibel levels of firecrackers exploding all around.  Now doesn’t that sound like fun, 9 year old?

Diwali in more recent years have been far tamer affairs, and much more environmentally friendly.  In fact, it’s reaching a stage where Diwali will soon become a festival of light only, with the “sound” part remaining behind only in memories.  Diwali in Singapore was as efficient as the city-state itself—have fun, but obey the rules first.  So only sparklers were allowed, so one got an essence of the festival, but nothing louder or smokier than that (and please clean-up afterwards, thank you very much).  One would have thought that Diwali in South Africa would be a more raucous affair, given the sizeable Indian population there and the generally more vocal nature of people.  And it was, to some extent, as the range of firecrackers was certainly wider and the celebration in certain parts more evocative of home.  But gated communities usually have strict rules about using firecrackers, as many people complain that their pets get scared by the noise.  So Diwali there was celebrated surreptitiously, with a sparkler lit in a garden corner away from the prying eyes of the roving security van.  Is it any wonder then, that our kids think of Diwali as a festival to be celebrated silently, plenty of light but with silencers and smoke detectors attached?

I’m delighted that the new generation cares about the environment a lot.  I’m also delighted that Diwali in India is not nearly as ear-busting as when I was a kid.  It’s great that the city of Delhi doesn’t become invisible on Diwali night due to the smoke from firecrackers (the fact that it’s barely visible during a regular day is another issue altogether). But what I miss is kids clamouring for more money to go Diwali-shopping, the build-up to the main day as the evenings get progressively louder, the competitive intensity of showing off how your “parachutes” are better than your neighbours’.  So while Diwali continues to be a beautiful festival of lights, I sometimes wonder if it has now become Diwali lite instead, a free version of the full-featured app.  So I’m going to spend some money this Diwali and buy some real loud firecrackers, with a request that I get the environmentally-friendly version so that my kids can celebrate with me, and understand why Diwali is both a festival of light, and sound.