Celebrity Column: Explosive emotions writes Maria Goretti

When I was a kid, Diwali for me meant being in my grandma’s home in Vasai, my mum is the fourth of eight sisters, so you can just imagine what a full house that was.

Diwali meant that we would get sparklers from every uncle who came over to my grandmas post collecting their Diwali bonus and always had the biggest box of sweets I had seen. My grandma cooked a simple meal, of fish curry, dry mutton and rice hand breads, there would be much merriment.

We kids would then light our sparklers, fountains, and then get out our boxes of chakkris, and this weird black tablet little thing that when we lit would grow into a snake, so we got into putting these all over the entrance steps of our house, and then of course the final “Laddhi” of noisy crackers. That frightened the crap out of all of us. I never did like them, I still don’t do. We kids then just hung out on our really long verandah, that had a swing, that creaked away into the night as we swung on it.

It was just wonderful, and this memory of us lying on that big swing, swinging away, as we peeked at a black sky, studded with stars, and listen to the rustle of the wind through the palm leaves, is something that has just stayed with me.

Then we would all move into the house and mattresses were laid from one end to the other and we would all sleep there in line, while my grandma moved to her room and would continue talking to all her children till late into the night, while my grandpa would say, “Dokri..bas, zhop aata.”

There was never any noise, no crackers bursting. Just the sound of laughter amongst all my aunts, and stories of what happened during the struggle for independence.

Gosh, just reliving this,  brings tears to my eyes. My grandma Rose Mary had the heartiest laugh, she smoked bidis, once in a while, my grandparents were farmers. And going to their place for holidays was my biggest joy.

Running through fields, having a bath at the well, plucking fruit every afternoon (where we would eventually be bitten by red ants) and then the golas.  To me this was Diwali. Our way of celebrating it. There was nothing fancy. But everything real and lots of love and laughter.

I love this festival and as a kid growing up in a very Catholic community, I used to wait every year for Diwali sweets from my friends, it was just so special. My friends Laxmi, Renita and Kiran, were my first introduction to rangoli, lighting of diyas, doing puja and vegetarian food. They were the ones who introduced me to dandiya and to Ganpati visarjan.

This is what I love about my India the most, that we are all so diverse and there is so much we can all learn from one another. But I actually started celebrating Diwali in full gusto with my friend Mini. One year, she said what kind of Diwali is this, no one gambles here, and she laid down these mattresses on her terrace, so I was introduced to “teen patti” and other various card games that I don’t quite remember. Do I gamble. Nope I don’t. I’m not a gambler, but a risk taker I am. Ha ha.

So, Mini would light diyas all over the house, make her full Mathur “Khana” and then drape herself in a beautiful sari, and then she would saunter around, seeing that everyone is well fed, well drunk and gamble, till some would be dropping off to sleep (me ha ha ha)

With my friend Jaya,who is the hottest thing in sari, we would do the full puja and sing “Om Jai Jagdish”, with her kids ringing bells, and us all singing with much gusto, and then her mum would put tikkas for all of us and then treat us to an amazing vegetarian fare, and all the kids just had a blast.

At my home, I start with cleaning the house, then see that we have lots of flowers around, and Zene does the rangoli, in whatever capacity she can and then we light all the diyas, I love that the most.

What I dislike about Diwali, are the loud crackers, and my poor doggies sitting curled up petrified in a corner, and the horrible smog the next morning.

So, “Happy Diwali” in advance,  thank you for all the warmth and the love. Stay blessed and shine. And have a sparkler of a Diwali. And try and celebrate by lighting up each other’s lives with love, patience, understanding and hugs.