Tomichan Matheikal's blog

One of the flames that fluttered on our terrace in Delhi in a Diwali night It’s only when the greetings came via Whatsapp that I realised it was Diwali.  Saturday is a holiday anyway and I used it for completing the works set aside for the day as usual.  The work took me to two towns on either side of my village.  There was nothing in either of the towns to remind one of Diwali.  It was business as usual.  Not even an extra lamp was seen anywhere.  No diyas which were ubiquitous in Delhi where I lived a decade and a half before I chose the quietness of this village.  No crackers which the Delhiites insisted on calling ‘bombs’ – “bum,” in fact.   No, I don’t miss the diyas or the bums . I like this quietness.  I love the purity that wafts into my lungs.  I used to conceal myself at home during both Diwali and Holi while I was in Delhi.  Both these festivals are conspicuous by their absence in Kerala except maybe in the big cities where people from other states celebrate them

Diwali is a festival that is sustained by multiple legends.  The people of Ayodhya lined up with lamps in their hands to welcome back Rama and Sita who had destroyed the evil named Ravana.  The return of the Pandavas after their exile used to add sheen to the Diwali diyas.  Krishna’s victory over Narakasura is commemorated in certain parts of India during Diwali.  The emergence of Lakshmi from the cosmic ocean which was churned by both the gods and the demons may shine in some of the Diwali lights.  The bulk of the universe consists of dark matter.  The 100 billion galaxies each of which may have about 100 billion stars have not dispelled much of the darkness.  Is darkness the essence of the universe?  Is light a diversion granted to the cosmos like the fireflies that come and go in the wildernesses?  If light was more abundant than darkness, perhaps Diwali would not have been celebrated.  Diwali is a reminder about the preponderance of darkness.  About the need to light

The burnt-out parts of crackers and fireworks Lay scattered in the yard and road and wherever the eye could reach. The festival is over. The intoxication lingered a while. And that died out too. Naturally. Leaving an aftertaste somewhere in the hollows within, Sweet and bitter, bitterness competing with sweetness. The sound and fury of the fireworks on the ground and in the heaven Repeated the same old tales, wise or idiotic – who knows?  Who cares? Dazzling lights strutted and fretted Their hour upon the stage Leaving distorted and gaping fragments behind. The fragments will be swept into the dustbins of Swachh Bharat Maybe the next time the Great Actor drives us to the broom store Or maybe they will be carried away by the winds of time That blow relentlessly And mercilessly Erasing the markings we make on dust.

Diwali gifts for me! This is the first time in my 52 years of existence that I received so many gifts in the name of Diwali.  In Kerala, where I was born and brought up, Diwali was not celebrated at all in those days, the days of my childhood.  Even now the festival is not celebrated in the villages of Kerala as I found out from my friends there.  It is celebrated in the cities (and some villages) where people from North Indian states live.  When I settled down in Delhi in 2001 Diwali was a shock to me.  I was sitting in the balcony of a relative of mine who resided in Sadiq Nagar.  I was amazed to see the fireworks that lit up the city sky and polluted the entire atmosphere in the city.  There was a medical store nearby from which I could buy Otrivin nasal drops to open up those little holes in my nose (which have been examined by many physicians and given up as, perhaps, a hopeless case) which were blocked because of the Diwali smoke.  The festivals of North India

Wish you a Happy Diwali. Let your light shine. Do not hide it under any religion ism political party ideology strategy...

Wish you a HAPPY DIWALI LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE all the way