Ignite your spirits this Festival of Lights

The air is redolent with the delightful Diwali spirit. You can see it in the gleam of paper lanterns, fairy lights, aromatic candles, and colourful diyas. The spirit of celebration pervades all around, be it in the stalls of festival sweetmeats or gleaming gifts. It is time to immerse yourself in celebrations as the night comes alive with softly glittering candles and glossy lamps. It is time to nurture old bonds, and revisit the invigorating rituals.

Each region and community in the country has a unique reason to celebrate Diwali, which falls on the 15th day of the month of Kartika, as per the lunar calendar. Diwali crowns the festive season, which starts with the Navratras and contin- ues till the New Year’s Eve. Many mythological events have been associated with Diwali, and there is some festival or the other for almost a week. While the houses are cleaned to welcome Goddess Lakshmi, diyas are lit to welcome Lord Rama from exile, heralding the victory of the good over evil.

Looking back, a sweet tapestry of emotions and memories unfolds in my heart, awash with love and longing as I recall my childhood. During Diwali holidays, the schoolbags would be put away. By Dhanteras, the auspicious day when you bought utensils and metals, our glee would all but spill over. We would happily wash hundreds of clay diyas so that they were a little damp when the mustard oil was poured into them, before wicks rolled out of cotton were dunked in, the tips oiled with precision. I believe a perfect wick, like a perfect diya, its exterior glistening with oil, is a thing of beauty.

Heaps of ‘kheel batasha’ in containers, toys made of melted sugar in the shape of animals, fresh flowers, idols, ‘puja thaalis’, and ‘rangolis’ drawn with beads, all these found a place around the altar as we stood in sparkling new clothes for the evening prayers that concluded with a collective chanting of ‘Om Jai Jagdish Hare’. This would be followed by fireworks and a feast. We would visualise Lord Rama and Sita coming home as glowing lights pierced the darkness.

Now the Diwali celebrations are fast-tracked with designer diyas, flowers, stencilled rangoli and strings of bulbs.

But I feel Diwali is not only about glitz and glitter, it’s also about inner joy. The shimmering flames of lamps tell us that there is nothing that can blow those divine lights out. When we light up our homes, it is important to look inwards and seek the light that shines within. This light tends to be dimmed due to our frantic and fretful pace of life. We spend days and months collecting an emotional baggage of anxieties and apprehensions while running on the treadmill of materialism.

Diwali is the best time to not only declutter our homes and workspaces, but also our mind. We should clear our mind of negative thoughts and awaken the inner spark that lies dormant in all of us. Let it shine and infuse vitality into our lives so that we can be rejuvenated and refreshed. Let moderation be the mantra in our celebrations. Let there be a light of peace and piety. Happy Diwali!

DIWALI IS NOT ONLY ABOUT GLITZ AND GLITTER, IT’S ALSO ABOUT INNER JOY. THE SHIMMERING FLAMES OF LAMPS TELL US THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BLOW THOSE DIVINE LIGHTS OUT