A Diwali after ages!

The happiest Diwalis of my life are the ones from childhood. Having grown up in a tiny little town, Diwali was all about new clothes, my mom doing the Alpana, dad going to the RamKrishna Mission for Kali Pujo through the night and coming back early morning with khichuri bhog, my mom standing by my side for moral support (I used to be petrified of crackers) and sticking crackers on long poles for me to burst while my sisters attacked theirs with gusto, all the amazing food being cooked at home.....

But after growing up, all that changed. By the time I was living on my own, I had moved to hating the whole hullabaloo around Diwali, which by then had lost all its charm and degenerated into the deafening noise of crackers bursting non stop for days and nights, the cloud of thick smoke that lingered on the city for days and the senselessness of people blowing up (pun intended) shockingly grotesque sums of money on crackers; money that would have been so much more usefully spent on a charity or a good cause!!! By the time I moved to Bombay, all the noise and the smoke had gotten so intolerable, that we would run away each year to the beaches of Goa to escape from it all. 

When we moved to Indonesia and came back to India for our annual visits to the motherland, it still remained a tradition to spend Diwali on the beaches of Goa. Thus, for a long time now, Diwali has stood for lazing on the beach with a good book, pigging out on seafood and spicy Goan sausages and diligently keeping the system hydrated with fluids in a place where vodka is cheaper than bottled water! ;-)

Then the kids came along..... And as every parent would agree, having kids changes everything. It could be because of the nights of sleeplessness and the exhaustion from the non stop running around, but the brain starts working in strange, unfathomable ways ..... for instance, you overlook the pleasures of the spicy Goan sausages and the days of doing nothing and swap them for giving your kids a taste of their "kaalchar" (culture). (Not that it is ever going to be possible to lie on the beach and do nothing when you have to struggle to feed 2 kids, 3 meals a day and change diapers 2*5 times a day!) 

So last year, we took the boys, then not yet 18 months old, to India for Diwali to give them a feel of their culture and heritage. Except it didn't pan out as we planned - not only did they fall sick they minute they landed, but they went around petrified from all the noise of the crackers and refused to remove their fingers from their ears! So after last year's misadventure, this year we decided to give the cultural tour a miss and stay here in our very 'predominantly white, middle class neighbourhood', far removed from the festivities and the buzz of Diwali that you would expect to see in Bombay or Bangalore or even a Eastham or a Southall. 

Or so I thought.... My sister decided to extend her stay and so for once, instead of not being home for Diwali, not only were we very much home, but we had guests over. And thanks to my sister's unbridled enthusiasm, we decided to celebrate, and do so in style. 

So the hubby was sent to buy candles by the dozens. And like any self respecting Bong household, a menu was made. Then my brother in law decided to go all the way to Eastham to get mishti and crackers to round up the celebrations. 

After ages, at my sis's urging, made this rangoli. It was actually quite fun, with all the arguing about the design and the colours.....what with me wanting to make it more monochromatic and chic and judicious use of colors and with her wanting me to put a different colour in each stroke...

And then decorated it with fresh geraniums and rose petals from the garden

It turned out so good, made a few more, including the feet of the Goddess Lakshmi, as my mom used to make...

They looked even better at night with the candles glowing inside...

Also in true Bong tradition, cooked a feast - maidar luchi, alu dam, mangsho kosha and payesh... almost perfect except for the fact that my brats refused to eat payesh or luchi with alu dom and kept asking for dosas!!!

Dressed up in ethnic clothes.... and yes, burst crackers in the garden ....

All in all, a near perfect Diwali .... and one the reminded me again of what Diwali was all about - celebrating good times with loved ones and ofcourse, plenty of good food!!