Diwali is one of the biggest festivals in India, it symbolizes the spiritual victory of Dharma over Adharma, light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. This year interestingly it fell on Oct 31st when Halloween is celebrated in a lot of the western countries, which made it an interesting day since that is the day when it is said that the barrier between the unseen world (spirit world) & our world is the thinnest and when the darkness is the strongest. Plus it was a bit jarring to see kids in Halloween costumes in the middle of Diwali pictures 🙂
We always go to Delhi whenever possible for Diwali as that is the one festival we celebrate at home with parents. In fact in the past 43 years I have only celebrated it 8 times without going to parents place and that was when I was in the US and it was not feasible to fly home for it as it was in the middle of the semester plus ridiculously expensive as well. I flew to Delhi with Mom on 26th so that I could spend some time with dad. I usually take 2 days off for Diwali and did the same this year as well. Luckily for us the day after Diwali was a Karnataka state holiday so I ended up getting 3 days off (plus 2 days for the weekend), I did WFH for the remaining two days.
Nothing beats spending time with family, but the Delhi pollution is painful. Before folks start blaming the Diwali crackers please note that I arrived in Delhi a week before Diwali and the air quality was so bad that I had the air purifier running 24×7 in my room and was taking Allegra every day for my allergies. But it is easier to blame cracker bursting instead of actually solving the root cause of the problem.
Due to work commitments Jani flew in on the 30th late night, her flight arrived on time but her luggage took over 1 1/2 hours to arrive. Apparently they sent it to the wrong terminal and it took a while to figure out what happened before they could sort things out. Once the luggage arrived we went back home and compared to Bangalore it is an amazing experience to drive a car in Delhi/Noida. The roads are wide and well maintained, due to this even when a car breaks down there is enough space for the others to continue on the way. Compare this to Bangalore where a lot of the roads are barely 1 1/2 times the width of a car so in case of a breakdown you are stuck there for the foreseeable future and that doesn’t even take into consideration the constant flooding of the roads here.
Diwali Havan
Once we reached home, we woke up dad so that we could give all the stuff Jani had got for them (and for me 🙂 ) which was quite fun. The next day we all woke up early (for me anyways) so that we could do the Havan to bless the house and all of humanity with health, wealth and happiness. An interesting aspect of Hinduism is that there is no one right way to do things, so different communities and even families have their own rituals for Diwali. For us it is an Havan in the morning and then Lakshmi puja in the evening. After the Havan since the house was filled with smoke (more than outside) we all sat in the garden and just relaxed for a few hours enjoying time spent with each other.
Jani filling the Diya’s with Oil while Dad relaxes by watching TV
Lighting the first Diya
In the evening we all got ready before dark so that we could do Lakshmi Puja. I have written about why we worship Lakshmi on the day instead of worshiping Lord Rama as Diwali started as a celebration for Lord Rama returning to Ayodhya after 14 years of Vanvas (Forest living) after defeating Ravan who was the demon king of Lanka and symbolized darkness so I am not going to repeat it again here but I do encourage you to go and read about it (scroll down to the bottom of the post).
Pic of the lit Diyas
Lakshmi Puja
The Lakshmi puja does require a bit of prep work, to fill all the Diya’s with oil and arrange them in proper order. Once that is done the Diya’s are lit and we do a short prayer before taking the lit Diya’s and putting them all around the house and outside. The idea is to light the entire house and avoid any dark rooms/areas.
Family photo outside the house with the decoration and lighting
Family photo in front of the house
Obligatory pic with the Frogs 🙂
This year because Jani likes bursting crackers (Even I do, but am severely allergic to the smoke) we got crackers (fireworks) and I burst crackers on Diwali after over 25 years. We hadn’t gotten much but still spent a good hour interacting with the neighbours and having a lot of fun. After we got done with bursting them me and Jani took a drive around the sector to admire the amazing decorations and lighting that folks had put up for Diwali. After that we called it a day and went back home to crash for the night.
Jani Bursting fireworks
Jani Bursting fireworks
Me bursting fireworks after 25 years
Love this pic because of the composition
The remaining days after Diwali I basically just chilled at home, not going anywhere and spending time with family.
In all it was a fun trip and I look forward to doing it again next year.
– Suramya