My ten year old son is full of energy today. In spite of no
school, he got up quite early in the morning because he can hardly wait to
celebrate Diwali. I have planned to go for shopping for Diwali and Dhanteras
during the first half of the day just to beat the overcrowding in the market
and heavy traffic on the road.
After buying
sundry items of daily needs, we shifted our attention to the real Diwali
shopping. We bought idols of Ganesha and Lakshmi and then were browsing through
the racks of decorative light. All the colourful lights bore the tell tale
marks of ‘Made in China’ products. Some of the decorative lights were probably
made in India but they were not of good quality and were highly priced. I
settled for saving some money by opting for the ‘Made in China’ variety and
meekly worried my patriotic feelings. It is needless to mention that my patriotic
feeling had developed quite strong over the last week; after reading so many
articles on boycott of Chinese goods.
After that, it was the turn of firecrackers. Once again, the
Chinese firecrackers beat the Indian ones in terms of price and quality. Moreover,
most of the shopkeepers were keeping only the China made firecrackers. It is
altogether a different matter that huge banners were fluttering throughout the
market; boldly displaying messages to boycott the Chinese crackers.
Then we shifted our attention to ‘Diya’ or earthen lamps. I had
earlier received many forwarded messages on Facebook and Whatsapp; advocating the
virtues of buying earthen lamps. Some of the messages talked about supporting the
poor artisans who make such lamps. Some of them even went overboard and told
that using earthen lamps would help in reducing pollution. My rudimentary
knowledge of science tells that when any fuel is burnt, it is going to create
air pollution. I am sure a ‘Diya’ does not come with electrostatic
precipitators or catalytic converters to reduce air pollution or suspended
particulate matters. In spite of that we ended up buying 50 pieces of diyas
which could be enough for out five feet by three feet balcony. My wife
suggested me to buy a few packs of candles as well because using a diya can be
quite messy. So, I had to concede to her demand and I ended up buying a few
packs of candles as well. I was thinking of the decorative lights which I had
purchased earlier. I was thinking of the futility of buying so many options to lighten
up our small balcony. It appeared to be a sheer wastage of money. I discussed
the matter with my wife because I wanted to save some money by returning the
decorative lights. My son; who was overhearing our discussions showed his
adamant attitude. He said that it would give a bad appearance if one of the
flats in the housing society would be devoid of decorative light. He said that
it would demean his image among his friends. So, I had to cede to the demand of
the generation X.
Now, it was the turn of shopping for Dhanteras. My wife suggested
that we should by a new ‘Pooja Thali’ because shopping for Dhanters won’t be
complete without that. There were numerous decorated thalis on display on one
of the racks. We bought a thali which cost us five hundred rupees. I have no
problem to admit that the beautiful floral motif on the thali was worth the
price which I paid for the thali. Then my wife said that elders say that one must
buy a utensil on this auspicious day. I suggested me to go for a set of spoons;
in order to keep the expenses down. But my wife was craving to buy a fancy
dinner set. She believes that a fancy dinner set does wonders to lift your esteem
in front of guests. So, we bought a ceramic dinner set which further depleted
my cash reserves by Rs. 3000. After that, my wife said that a Dhanteras
shopping would be incomplete unless you buy a gold coin. She said that offering
a gold coin to the idols of Lakshmi does wonders to your income. I did not have
the courage to refuse the dictum of the Ministry of Home Affairs, so we also
bought a gold coin. It was a much smaller coin which cost us only five thousand
rupees. Deep inside, I was writhing in pain on my eventual ‘diwala’ on the day
of Diwali.
Our two BHK flat has a solitary balcony. This is the only part of
the house which is visible to the outside world and hence needs the maximum decoration
on Diwali. The rooms, the hall and the kitchen have little space for decoration.
Moreover, safety concerns also prohibit us from burning any diya or firecracker
in the house; except in the balcony. My wife promptly made a beautiful rangoli
by using stencils and coloured powder. The ragnoli is bang in the centre of the
balcony. Decorative lights were suspended in neat rows from the railing of the
balcony. The concrete skirting of the balcony provided the place of pride to
the diyas. Then, the next row was occupied by the candles. This left little
space for the fireworks. Nonetheless, my son utilized that small space to show
his pyrotechnics and my little family had a wonderful Diwali celebration.
