Diwali Of Firsts

Unlike the Diwali all these years, the one this year was very different; different in the sense that it had many firsts. I'm not exactly sure what prompted me to go for 'them'... sudden realisation that I may not be home for Diwali next year being the obvious reason...

Diwali for me (and all my folks) this year started with a pleasant surprise: I managing to get up early morning for an 'Abhyanga Snan'! All the early mornings I've had during the Engineering days were merely out of desperation (to swot up before the exams) and not because I loved to :-P. The last time I woke up so early on a Diwali day was probably sometime when I was in Primary school - phatake udavayala. A 'Snan' at 6.00 am (I know that was way after the 'muhurta') along with the stunning aroma of 'Utna' was a delight, seriously, and a first of course! I'm thinking of discarding the soap and continuing with it :-) A good enough reason for Aai to entice me to get up early from now on...

If 6.00 am on a Diwali day was a huge surprise in itself, I was up at 4.00 am the very next day (Sunday). A little better reason I believe - I was going to attend my first concert of Indian Classical music (better known as 'Diwali Pahaat'). I somehow always knew that I'd a liking towards this form of music too, but never really tried to improve on it. Of late I've been developing a taste for the same thanks to Baba's awesome Cassette collection. Having Devaki aatya (Devaki Pandit) on stage and VIP passes from The Lady herself in hand was far too good an occasion to miss! And as expected the 'maiphal' did reach a crescendo! If witnessing Devaki aatya LIVE on stage wasn't enough, we'd an unplanned Pandit 'get-together' there :-)

Move on to Bhau-Beej, I donned Kolhapuri Chappals for the first time on a 'Jhabba'; a very peculiar, but a first nevertheless. I do wear Kurtas on appropriate occasions, but never had I worn Kolhapuris on them.

Also this year, I did refrain from following the trend of forwarding long and you-feel-they-are-not-really-from-the-heart Diwali smses for the first time. "Wish you all a Happy and Sparkling Diwali": simple and effective :-)

Wait till you read this - on the day of Laxmi Pooja, I myself lit the Diyas at the door, for the first time, and no need to tell all of who do it, it's nice and not a girly thing.

Another first (not personally) was that not a single kid/teenager/adult from our society buy or burst 'phatake', first time ever... and am I particularly proud of them! Go Green people - it was a disappointment otherwise in this regard in Pune at least, when all I could see was money going up in smoke, quite literally :-( ; just when I was lauding all the Punekars for a relatively noiseless Diwali last year.

Thus, a same but different Diwali; not first but of firsts :-)