As kids growing up in Calcutta, Diwali was of-course loads of fun, but it presented a strange dichotomy.
Any 2nd,3rd,4th standard kid would write "Diwali is the festival of lights. It is the celebration of good versus evil. It is celebrated by wearing new clothes and exchanging sweets with relatives and bursting crackers".

And for us, Diwali was just the new clothes and crackers. In Calcutta, till '92, when we lived in Bhaktiarshah road, we would wake up early morning, for the Ganga Snanam. Amma would then call out to Radhika Aunty across the road, and ask that question : "Ganga Snanam aacha". At 6, we will go to Vichcha Thatha's house (he was thatha's cousin) and wish them Diwali and have breakfast there. Later, when we moved to Vishal, it would be the ganga-snanam, followed by watching Kannukudi Vyadinathan play the violin on Sun TV, and then hot idlis for breakfast, and then spending time chatting up before going to Vichcha Thatha's house.

The highlight was, quite unsurprisingly, the evening, the cracker time.

Growing up, as kids, we never understood the charm of visiting relatives and exchanging sweets line that we never failed to forget to write in the exams.

That was to change with '98 Diwali.

As with everything appa, it would be a surprise. He comes back from office in the evening one day, and proposes a visit to Madras for Diwali ( something, that surprisingly, we had never done, the whole time we had been in Calcutta, around 15 years then). Vids and I, obviously supported the idea. Amma, was being practical, and thought about the expenses and the tickets and all such things, that never bothers us kids.

But as with everything appa, he had made his mind. The next day, he got the tickets (both ways) on the Diwali Special Train to Madras.

And, there it was, out of the blue, a Diwali with relatives.

But the excitement began a whole long time earlier. There was Tatha, Patti, Seetha patti, Ambi Thahta, Chitti, Chittappa, Periappa, Perima, Bharath, Lakshmi, Vivek, Athai Patti, Ramu mama, Visalam Mami, Delhi Patta aka Thathi, and Vinitha in Madras. And, we were getting new dress for each one of them. All this means, huge doses of Shopping. And, it was ultimate fun.

Train journey in October is loads of fun. And, that time, I always liked spending time in the train, and secretly wished that the train got late, so that I could enjoy more time in the train. As a sign of the perfectness of the visit, the train got 6 hours late, and pulled into Madras Central at 1 AM in the morning. Periappa was waiting for us, and I got to see a cell-phone for the first time.

We had reached, probably a couple of days before Diwali, and the next day, was spent planning for the day. Mama came one of those days, and took us to TNagar, to get us new dresses. The day before, we went to Koyambedu market to get vegetables and stuff for the Diwali feast. Later in the evening, Appa took us to the Cracker shop for buying the crackers.

Appa generally has a budget for crackers. Every year the prices increase, but the budget does not increase proportionally. In '98 however, it seemed he had infinite pockets. I would have never imagined that he would get us that many crackers. That, he was definitely in a different mood altogether was when he got us Rockets, something that he steadfastly refused to get us for the past so many years.

In the evening, we presented the new clothes to everyone. Kept it before GOD, and amma and chitti and patti, put small dots of haldi and kumkum on the clothes. And we went to sleep excited beyond words can describe.

Next morning, after the bath, Thatha and Patti gave their blessings and the new clothes, which we wore and promptly went to the terrace for the cracker session. This was the first time we were bursting crackers at the crack of dawn.

The highlight of the cracker bursting session was Appa and Chittappa, fighting like kids on the best way to send a rocket skywards. After procuring, a bottle from downstairs, there was a heated discussion, on the exact angle at which the rocket has to be placed inside the bottle, to attain maximum elevation. That fight, is a standing joke even now, and we never fail to laugh out loud, whenever the Diwali of '98 and that fight is discussed.

Later, we went to Justice Sundaram road, to Periappa's house for breakfast and lunch. Some more crackers were burst then. The Diwali bhakshanam was devoured. Appa, Thatha and Chittappa and Periappa got to watching TV, reading papers and discussing stuff. Amma, and the ladies got working on preparing the feast, and us cousins, got to playing cricket and other games.

Later, after the sumptuous meal, we had a photo session and then we went to greet Athai patti.

The whole day was magical, and special. Although, the sequence of events were the same as every other Diwali, we had discovered the "magical ingredient", the essence of the festival. Of being together with the family. Of sharing jokes sitting together eating. . Of Thatha's stories and Appa and Chittappas effort to better each others joke. Of sharing Calcutta school stories in exchange of Madras school stories.

Of the whole three generations in the family, being at the same place.

And the other thing magical thing was forgetting life, suspending reality for day. Things were not real happy in Madras. There were some family troubles brewing and tensions raising all year in Madras. But for that one day, everything was forgotten, happiness was summoned and Good times were ordered.

And, that, to me is the magic of festivals. Family. Food. Happiness (even if for just a day).

The answer that we wrote in 4th standard was now complete.

Later, in the evening, we went to Nanganallur to Ramu Mama's home. Mami had prepared pulav and other such delicacies. Mama, had gotten an amazing array of fancy crackers, that light up the sky, and the 10000 wallah, that continues and continues for half an hour.

It was the perfect evening to finish of the perfect day.

As it everything perfect, it stays, for a long time as an ideal. Something, that gets increasingly hard to achieve. Thatha passed away in '99, and patti was bed-ridden since then. Seetha Patti and Ambi Thatha moved to Mysore. I was stuck in Engineering College in Bangalore, and then when Appa, Amma were in Bombay, Vidya was stuck in Chennai, and now I am stuck in a place that does not even celebrate Diwali. And, the perfect Diwali has never been repeated.

But the memory serves the festival's purpose, as I sit here in Madison, after spending a fun evening with friends, and the great food that Janani's mom made.

The memories, bring back the happiness and the promise of hope of future special Diwali's to come.

Wish you all a Fantabulous and happy and safe DIWALI.

Enjoy!!!!!


With Thatha and Patti as Tiny-tots!


With Thatha, Patti and Cousins on the Perfect Diwali

A couple of days ago, for a fleeting second, conversation veered towards appa and bedtime stories.

And, so this post.

I have always been a silent admirer of appa's lullabies. That is, I used to love them, but never demanded that appa recite the story/sing the song for me. Mainly because, being 2 years older (than my sister), my ego of being a big boy got into the way. But, I loved those times.

*The earliest lullaby (one which, of-course, I do not remember), but often comes up when amma and appa sit down to tell our tiny toddler (kai-kozundai) stories. I would never sleep in the night, unless appa used to pick me up and walk up and down the room. And I would start crying, once he stops. This used to go on for like 2 hours. Finally, appa would just pretend he is walking, so that I do not start crying.

*The one with the trains is one that I have asked him to repeat often. This would just be lying on the ground, and he would just drum his fingers on the floor, fooling us that it is the sound of the train. I would then, just let my imagination flow, and imagine travelling. Train journey was my favouritest part of the summer vaccation, and this tapping of the fingers on the floor, used to lead me the semi-dreamy sleep. Later, when I used to sleep alone, I used to amuse myself with the tapping and fool myself that I am in a train.

*Vidya used to request these all the time. I just sat/slept in the background and enjoyed. This was the story about the pious elephant. The basic story is that an elephant used to take bath in a river daily, and offer flowers to a Vishnu temple after the bath. One day, after the bath, a crocodoile, catches the elephants foot. The elephant calls out to Lord Vishnu, and he cuts the crocs mouth with his chakram. Appa used to spice it up daily with some new tid-bits. Often, the elephant would forget something. Either the towel, or the soap. And, there was the sound effects. Of the Elephant walking, the croc sneaking in, and the God sending the chakram swirling.

*Most often, we would sleep listening to appa sing to this and this. They were sad songs, but we hardly understood the meaning then. The whole concept of a guy selling salt in the rain (for the first song) amused us. Also, Vidya (most of the time) and a few times, I, too, used to get all sentimental about young kids in movies. That was the fascination for the second song.

*A large part of the years, and still counting, has been spent talking about this Calvin that Appa invented, called Ashatu Paiyyan. Basically, this is a 6-7 year old smart kid, who has a witty answer of any situation. There has been not one day, when an Ashatu Paiyaan answer has not been saught for questions. And the Ashatu Paiyyan, has the ashatu paiyaan voice, which is an integral part of being him. There was a time, during the world-cup 1994, when appa would use to come up with a series of stories regarding this charachter. The most famous one, the jokes of which are still rememberd is the Ashatu Paiyaan goes to America to watch the world-cup episode.

We still spend, reading jokes out of tinkle, Readers Digest, Ananda Vikatan etc as Ashatu Paiyaan ones. The most favourite one, is however, to see and observe kids, and put Ashatu Paiyaan in their place.

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I cannot wait for December to come, so that Vidya and I can sleep on either side of appa, and crack up jokes.

I love letters. I like to read and re-read a lot of my mails from time to time. I like to think about what I was thinking then, what the context was, and then, by some weired connections which is my brain, I remember the place, I wrote the mail, the things I did a few minutes before etc etc. Ah! I love these Brain-memory-daydream jumps!!!

There are some things money cannot buy...

• Early morning Diwali celebrations and the Ganga Snanam
  
• Afternoon lunch and siesta with family


• Speaking in the 'T-language'


• Sining out loud in the 'Reverse it all' language


• Sitting in the verandah in the evening and building imaginary forts in the air...







• Amma crying in desperation to stop us from doing 'tirushamam'(mischief)


• Clicking around in wierd poses in the afternoon and just having fun

and for the others...There is MONEY!!







and my new camera as well!


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Hope you had a fantabulous DIWALI

...I sure had....One week of absoulte Masti.

Though, I had plans of getting some work done before the deadlines start knocking...I ended up not even sitting in front of the computer for a week!!!
'I am Enjoying it'!!!!!!

1989: Big brother or Big sister
Due to some reasons, which I do not know, a small 3 year old girl was asked to wait, all alone, for 2 hours after school (which was 10 kms away from home), so that she can come with her 5 year old brother in the school bus, when his classes end two hours later. On the first day that this set-up was worked on, I was sitting with my (the then) best friend, Aritra Ghosh, concentrating on Ms Berri's class, when my sister comes and stands next to the enterance of the class, crying. Berri miss, then quietly lets her into the class, and she sits right in between me and aritra, crying stopped, in the security of her elder brother.
Evening. The same day. I am out playing with my friend, my bully, a 5 year old, 100 times stronger than a thin, underweight me. And, as always, Kutush (my bully friend) finds an excuse to beat me up ( probably I got him out in cricket and demanded that it is my chance to bat! I dont know, why he would beat me up in such a case though, because, i would have barely batted an over!!!). My little sister, is there somewhere around, either trying to join us in our game, or playing some little game on her own. But then, she spots Kutush beating me up. She rushes to the spot, jumps up on poor kutush, and starts pulling his hair. He may be a bully, but does not have the heart to beat up a 3 year old girl. So, he pulls out of the fight. And now, I stop crying, in the security of my little sister.


1994: Innovative (stupid?) games
I was 11, my sister nearlynine(!)and all the creative and innovative juices were flowing inside us, minus, the weight of what will the world think, kind of feelings, minus the weight of am I acting stupid, minus the weight of having to act mature just because we were in the teens (which would come in a couple of years!), and all I remember of those glorious days were the games that we invented. There was "Journey to the centre of the earth" were we ran round and round the room and tackled all the obsacles that Jules Verne dreamed of and even more, in the quest to reach the middle of the room. There was Tennis during the grand slam times, when apart from actually playing the game in our tiny little room, we had put two chairs, were we would sip lemon juice made during change-over between games, and even put up imaginary fights with the imaginary chair umpire over imaginary decisions!
But the craziest of all would be the one where I used to piggyback her, and was her piggyback robot who used to take her to school and back. This being the basic skeleton of the game, different versions were made, like the one were the circuits went crazy and the robot kidnaps the hapless girl etc etc. And not to forget, our very own bollywood games, complete with ma ki senti, songs, action etc etc.


1998-:Confidant
A nearlyfifteen me, and a sister who is nearlyteen, tough times in life with exams, peer pressure, a pressure to make a stamp among friends, to stand up and be counted, to be liked, to be loved. My teenage got all this and more, and a little prematurely to my sister. One of the strongest memories of those years, when friendship and closeness blossomed, is of a day, when my sister was listing out the most good looking boys in my class, and she slipped me into fourth place!
Seriously, though, the last 7-8 years, so much has changed in each of our lives, and having a confidant, to whom, you can bare your deepest feelings, thoughts which you find a little embarrasing to state in the public, has made the good times even better and has absorbed the shocks of the bad times!


2006-Growing up?
Growing up, probably would be the exact oppositte of the way, we enjoyed the summmer vaction of may 2006. Our antics would have laid a five year old to shame. But we grow up im moments. We will be 15 years and 234 days, but then at that day, a set of events will make us much more older than that. Precisely, what happend with me and my sister and our cousin, late one night. What started as a "tan-kheecho", fun time, slowly turned into a very deeply philospohically set discussion, where we discussed, commented, shared, and grew mature!

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It is so sad that, when in a few years, life will move at such breakneck speeds. when life as we know today will become a distant memory, "education" has kept my sister 1200 kms away from me, so that we can only meet for 30 small days in a year!
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if you are wondering, why I titled the post Scout, refer to "to kill a mocking bird".