The festival of light is finally here and I know everyone’s excited to celebrate it. With a long awaited vacation and a package of festivities, you know you’re in for a time whose essence will remain with you long after these days have passed. But before you fall into that familiar routine of Diwali festivities, take a moment to rethink how you’re going to celebrate this festival and consider indulging into these four practices this Diwali.
With the happiness in the air and the magnanimous feeling in everyone’s heart, I’m pretty sure, there will be a lot of gifts exchanging hands. Those who truly understand traditions know that the essence of the gift goes a long way, even after the festivals are over. So, instead of gifting everyone the cliche sweets/ dry fruits/chocolates that you give them every year, gift them something special. Trust me, your elders will love it if you make a small memento for them, and they will treasure it much more than that mithai box. This will immediately remind them of you when they see it, no matters how much time has passed.
As far as your cousins are concerned, gift them something practical, something that they will use every single day. If you happen to know that your cousin has been yearning for those heels for a while, gift those to her and you will become her favourite cousin for sure.
Diwali is the time when your house is at its best and all lot of effort goes behind it. The preparations for Diwali start at least a fortnight before those main days when your Mom starts cleaning the house. If you can help your Mom with the work, well and good, but if you can’t, you could lessen her burden by keeping quiet even if the rotis are burnt, or if there is no salt in the sabzi. Believe me, your Mom will be more grateful for you not complaining that day than for her Diwali gift.
As far as the decorations are concerned, do not bring those plastic ready-made decorations from the market and simply get the house decorated by the servants. Make it a family task instead. Let your whole family together and make all the decorations by hand. Even if the decorations are not so perfect, the memories that you will spin while making those decorations while make the Diwali seem perfect.
Diwali is the time when all of us, by default, shop for new clothes. This year, instead of spending a ton of money on that designer lehenga, take your Mom’s old sari out from its dusty corner in the closet, renovate it a bit and then wear it for Diwali. If you feel a bit unsure about this idea, the glow on your Mom’s face when she gets to know about this will make you go along with this idea for sure. With the money you save in this process, make sure your Mom buys new clothes. This is very important because there are countless times when I’ve seen my mom buy me that expensive lehenga (even though it is beyond our budget) and then pretend that the sari she bought last year will do for this year too.
This Diwali, do something different and bring brightness in someone else’s life. While you make sure that there is light in your loved ones’ lives, take that extra step to remove the darkness from someone else’s life. This doesn’t take much effort, even if you simply go to an old age home and spend some time with them and rescue them (though momentarily) from the constant loneliness that surrounds them, you will make their Diwali memorable. Instead of giving your torn and worn out clothes to your maid, this year, buy her a new saree and see her face light up like a million fireworks across the sky.
These ideas might be a bit difficult to implement, but believe me, they’ll make your Diwali memorable. But whatever you do, make sure you let go of all the darkness in your life, forget all the burden that weigh down your shoulders and let the warmth of the Diwali surround you.
Written by Aneri Doshi
What makes my heart race? Books, Coffee and Rain
GIFTS
As far as your cousins are concerned, gift them something practical, something that they will use every single day. If you happen to know that your cousin has been yearning for those heels for a while, gift those to her and you will become her favourite cousin for sure.
DECORATIONS
As far as the decorations are concerned, do not bring those plastic ready-made decorations from the market and simply get the house decorated by the servants. Make it a family task instead. Let your whole family together and make all the decorations by hand. Even if the decorations are not so perfect, the memories that you will spin while making those decorations while make the Diwali seem perfect.
CLOTHES
ALTRUISM
These ideas might be a bit difficult to implement, but believe me, they’ll make your Diwali memorable. But whatever you do, make sure you let go of all the darkness in your life, forget all the burden that weigh down your shoulders and let the warmth of the Diwali surround you.
Happy Diwali!
Written by Aneri Doshi
What makes my heart race? Books, Coffee and Rain