The Festival of Lights

The festival of lights, Diwali, is possibly India’s biggest religious celebration. The Sanskrit word for it, Deepavali, translates into ‘row of lights’. Light symbolizes hope. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness or good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. Its celebration includes millions of lights shining on housetops, outside doors and windows, around temples and other buildings in the communities and countries where it is observed. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five-day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika.

And that was historical part of Diwali. Diwali to me was a lot more than just a festival. It was my favorite holiday season. The very thought of spending 10 days away from school, with all your friends not going on a family vacation and No holiday home work!! The thought of it brings sheer joy.

The only time I get super excited when I hear my mom say ‘help me clean the house’ or ‘come help me in the kitchen’ because Diwali is the time when people clean up their whole house preparing for the festival, and preparing lot of sweets and getting fat!!!!

During Diwali eve, we friends would go around the neighborhood mesmerized by the beautifully lit up houses and the wonderfully drawn rangolis and secretly planning on messing their rangoli so ours would look good.

Maybe it was my imagination but that oil bath on Diwali day was like none other. It had that special something to it. Then I would wear the new clothes and go flaunt it to all my friends with crackers in hand and from then on it would all be a outbreak of sounds and colors. Taking in that extremely harmful but familiar, smell of the polluted air at the end of the night, we would start waiting for the next Diwali.

To me Diwali gave the gift of togetherness, happiness, connecting to my roots and most importantly of memories that would last us a lifetime. 

As nostalgia takes me rolling down memory lanes, our tiny family at Aurroville.com wishes you a very Happy, Peaceful, Diwali filled with cheer, good health, love, happiness and a truck load of beautiful memories.