Saurabh's random musings: October 2006

To all who come to this site, a very happy Deepavali.

A very nice introduction to the festival is provided on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali#Significance_in_Hinduism.

My memories of the festival are of extreme excitement about bursting of crackers and eating tons of sweets. We would collect as much money as possible from parents as well as relatives who came to visit us. Then we would calculate, literally, what the best bang for the buck would be. If a particular year was good with regards to the monetary collection, we would go for the big "atom" bombs. In a lean year, we would buy small red bombs which came in packs of 12-24. We would then burst them individually.

The women folk generally preferred "phuljhari", "anars" and "charkhis". These items would put on a fine show but there was nothing macho about them. The guys preferred "rockets" and "atom or aloo" bombs. It was especially masculine to hold the bomb in your hand, light it and throw before it burst. Once a bomb burst in my hand and I swear I saw the entire collection of stars in the universe flash before my eyes.

We had two dogs in our household, one belonging to my mausi and the other to us. They were both pahadi sheepdogs (in my opinion the best breed in the world)... one called Bhotu, the other Rikhu (Garhwali for bear... he was jet black). Bhotu used to enjoy Diwali and used to jump around anars and charkhis. Rikhu was unfortunately scared for his life. He used to just shake through the night wondering what the hell we were up to.

Days before Diwali we used to setup lights on the roof a la Christmas in US. The frustrating part of these lights was that if one bulb went out, the entire collection would go out. Then you spent the next few hours searching for the culprit using a tester. In the process, you frequently got a nice 220V electric shock. I am amazed, now living in the US, how we lived in India back then. A 220V shock was part of life. It stunned you for a while and then you were fine with a nice story to tell. Anyway, somehow we had the lights on by Diwali night. One year, everything was working fine, and then on Diwali night, my sisters and cousins decided to go to the roof to check out the city lights. My mausi's daughter stepped on a small bulb and as I mentioned before, once the bulb was crushed, the entire "ladi" or collection went out. The poor girl was shaking in anticipation of the wrath of my father.

So once Diwali night was gone, I went about collecting the "barood" or gunpowder from all the exploded bombs. Then I used to light up my collection for one final bang. One year, I finished the process, then lit the barood... poof, the flame shot up and singed my hair. I could smell burning hair all over the place. On checking myself out in the mirror, I noticed all my hair had become brown and curly AND horrors of horror, my right eyebrow was gone... completely. This presented a dilemma since I had to go to school the next day. Being very resourceful, I took a black pencil and drew myself an eyebrow. I think I haven't looked more ridiculous in my life but at that time was extremely proud of the artwork on my face.

I feel like one of my favorite writers, Ruskin Bond, writing this post. But boy, being a kid in Dehradun at that time was fun. I am sure everyone has their Diwali stories, and in fact, people from all over the world have their own festival stories. Thats what makes life so wonderful. I hope festivals continue to give us beautiful moments and amazing stories to tell, forever.

So again, wishing everyone a great Diwali. If you are in the US, be with friends, tell tales, light a few "phooljharis" if you can, and enjoy the day. Ultimately, its all about being close to your loved ones and thanking God for all thats given to you.

We went to north Michigan, to the Petoskey, Traverse City area, to enjoy the beautiful colors of autumn. This region is on the Lake Michigan side of the state and is needless to say, just beautiful. There is an area in particular called Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. Huge sand dunes rise up from the lake, sometimes as much as 450 ft. You can go down one dune to the lake, but the return is extremely tiring and some people have had minor heart attacks coming back !!!! We did this trek last year when the weather was warmer. It was too cold this time around and we are a year older with weaker hearts.

Here are some pictures: