Rain Splashed Diwali -----
This
is how the sky appeared on the eve of Diwali. Unbelievable? At least for me it
was a bit difficult to believe that it could pour so hard during Diwali …. It
truly was a novel experience.
The
festival of lights is celebrated at home every year. There would be visits to
relatives and friends, but basically we would be stationed in our home-town.
This year we were in another city – Bengaluru, during the festivities.
Right
from the day we reached the city, the skies were perpetually clouded and
gloomy. Everyone was hopeful that it would clear up by the festival time, but
instead, the rains kept increasing from Dhan Teras right through Diwali.
An
occasional shower during Deepavali is not absolutely unheard of, but such
incessant rain? It was more like the month of July than November.
Along
with the heavy rains came all its paraphernalia, too – disrupted electricity
supply, mud and slush, pot-holes filled with rain water, traffic jams ……everything
in minutest details.
The
local newspapers ran pictures of bumper to bumper rows of cars, with all their
tail-lights uniformly blazing red, on the jammed roads. It was as if the cars
were rejoicing the festival of lights with only the tail-lights glowing
brightly in the dark of the night.
On
the Lakshmi Pooja day, the rains started receding by late afternoon – it did
return the next day, but at the time of Pooja it was all clear and immediately
everybody came out to celebrate and burn crackers. Within minutes the darkening
skies sparkled with splendid fireworks.
Some
locals said that rains during Diwali time are a usual thing in Bengaluru, while
others felt that it was because of the sudden atmospheric changes. Whatever may
be the reason, it was a different experience and an enjoyable one.
Another
– and the true reason for the merriment was ….after almost a decade the family
was enjoying the festival together.
Long
time back, it was an era of joint family, then came the nuclear families. And now
is the time of ‘dispersed families’. Either for education or job or for some
such factor, nowadays the members of most of the families are spread over in
different corners of country/world. It is not always possible to spend time
together or celebrate occasions together due to some reason or the other. So,
it is ‘Sone pe suhaga’ when the family is together and the occasion is the
grand festival of the year.
