Diwali

Wish all of you a splendid and safe diwali.. and good wishes for the whole year....

This year I somehow feel the excitement and festive fervour is running low.. I thought only I felt this way but many of my friends feel the same..This isn't my first diwali away from home. Last year it was the first time but it was by far my most adventurous diwali!! I missed the train to go home (well... for those who want to know how read an earlier blog that explains the experience to the minutest detail.), felt heartbroken and, more importantly, felt like a loser, had my sis and jeejs surprise me by booking me a flight ticket the next afternoon, and finally making it home for diwali !!!

But diwali for me has always been best enjoyed with SCARANUS - with a few pluses and minuses every year... those were the best parts of childhood... We'd wear our best ethnic wear (well... at that point in time many of us didn't know how it really differed from our daily casuals, did we?) run off to all our friends' places in the building, sit for a while, chit chat, eat all the sweets and savouries so dotingly offered by our mothers, put on some music.. and dance like no one's watching. Oh yea.. no one WAS watching!!! Then when we were tired of dancing and watching each other dance, we'd run off downstairs to the open ground in front of the building and start bursting fire crackers. Well, this part also included trying to outdo other 'gangs' that shared the same open space and burning our new clothes beyond repair at times. This would continue amidst interesting discussions of how best to light these crackers and some amusing gossip too. All this went on until we were called back to our respective homes to meet family and friends who would be waiting to 'meet the kids'. Then have dinner and more sweets and sleep like it was the best diwali ever. And yes, it was.

I love the times when we were in school for precisely this reason. We would do what we pleased and be happy with what we did. Today, we think before we decide if we had fun. We tend to weigh out the pros and cons to come to a conclusion whether it was actually worth it. I wish it were like the good ol' days. Maybe that is why we call it the good old days. We never spent half the time thinking about what we had done, were doing or would do. Life works best that way. Live it. Not think about how to live.