HAPPY DIWALI!
CELEBRATING WITH THE ONES WHO LIGHT UP OUR LIVES
May your Diwali be joyous and filled with light as you celebrate your own family traditions! Image credit: RDNE STOCK PROJECT.
By SHAGORIKA EASWAR
As Diwali approaches, I go through the list of ingredients I need to make mithai and bring out the silver thalis and bowls inherited from my parents and in-laws to polish them to a shine.
I wonder what the weather will be like this year. Will I get away with a kurta or a sari without having to bundle up in winter gear? Will we be able to light sparklers with the little ones in the family or will we do the token one and rush back in from the cold and the wind?
I also look back at how Diwali has changed for me, personally, and for us as a family over the years, and yet remained unchanged in so many ways.
As a child growing up in Delhi and then Bangalore, Diwali was all about diyas and candles on windowsills and doorsteps, mounds of home-made mithai and savouries exchanged between family and friends, and the excitement of bursting firecrackers in the evening.
When we moved to Dubai, Diwali took on a new meaning for me as a young mother. I wanted to share our traditions with our infant son. Armed with recipes from mother and mother-in-law, I attempted to conjure up all the delicacies they appeared to make effortlessly.
Photographs from those days reveal wide smiles and mithai in odd shapes!
Another move brought us to Canada with our sons and now Diwali meant sharing our traditions with their classmates. I’d pack little loot bags with a diya, a couple of sparklers and a barfi or laddoo (in a separate Ziploc bag!) so they could talk to the other children about what Diwali was about.
I was ever so grateful for the sole desi family we knew – it meant so much to be able to wish each other in person in our new country. On Diwali evening, we’d gather our neighbours’ kids and have a fireworks party.
The fireworks took a backseat as the boys grew, and our Diwali evolved into a visit to the temple, a family dinner, followed by lots of mithai. With our circle of friends expanding, we had more to exchange with every year, and the variety at our table grew exponentially.
When our grandson was born, we reverted to lighting sparklers with him, and establishing yet another set of family traditions. As a toddler, he would reach for his favourite “gulamchakos”. Though he has called them gulab jamuns for a few years now, for the rest of us, they are still gulamchakos!
And this year, we have a new grandchild to celebrate Diwali with! She was introduced to kaju katli on Rakshabandhan day and scarfed it down. Now I am looking forward to introducing her to besan laddoos – made following my mother’s recipe. I wonder what the one-year-old will call them!
As our families grow, so do the stories associated with our celebrations.
May your Diwali be joyous and filled with light as you celebrate your own family traditions!