Diwali at Different Age....

Diwali or Deepavali !! what does this mean? A festival followed by most of the Indians? Well if you wanna know the history then go here. I have been celebrating Deepavali since my childhood or rather everyone would have been doing the same thing, but wat so special in that!! Its the way you celebrate this festival at your different age. At each stage of your life what does this festival mean?

When I was a kid, It was just a festival full of crackers, new dresses and sweets..., least bothered about why it is celebrated. I remember I used to get a crackers worth Rs. 20 (It was more than enough at that time) There used to be a kind of reel pataki which is normally put in a small pistol and we should burst it at a stretch, which would take hardly 2 mins to complete. But as all kids think other way, my objective was to break each reel into small pieces and burst one by one. This was taking longer time and was giving more joy and satisfaction of bursting more crackers.

As I grew up, my knowledge about the festival, reason to celebrate the festival also grew. Obviously the amount of crackers we used to burst also went up. The varieties got increased. The fear was lessening. Even tried bursting crackers by holding it in hand and just throw away when it was about to burst. Sara pataki, Hydrogen Bomb, Rocket, Kaage/Gubbi Pataki, flower pot, vishnu chakra and most popular was the Laxmi Pataki and susurbatti.


During college days, though the enthu in celebrating the festival didnt diminish but the interest in trying out all varieties of crackers started to fall. It was more limited to the crackers which small children at home cant burst on their own or rather they fear to do so. But nonetheless the interest in trying out the new dresses was still alive.


When we just started to work money was in our hand and we could able to afford to burn those expensive crackers which couldn't have been possible in the childhood. To name of a few serial pataki's (10,000 or 50,000 in number) and the flower pots which will spread colors in the sky.

Nowadays, we are thinking more about the nature, the pollution that is caused by bursting crackers. And we are in a stage where we are only seeing people bursting the crackers and enjoying ourselves. However, one possible solution could be to just gather in a group at one place in a locality and burst the crackers. This will not only reduce the amount of crackers but also reduces the pollution.

Nevertheless whatever it may be, the elan of celebrating Diwali should not get destroyed. The "Festival of Lights" should be celebrated with more lights, diyas and more sweets & happiness... :)