Cover Story
Diwali, a festival that lights up our homes with the numerous diyas and lights up our lives with happiness, togetherness, and abundance.
TO LIGHT UP OUR HOMES AND OUR LIVES
By: Poornima Menon
W
hile Diwali has many religious connotations and many rituals, what everyone remembers this festival for is the light, the sound, and the chatter of our near and dear ones, visiting our homes and partaking the festivities with us. Trips home and holidays to visit relatives are planned around this time. When living away from home, your close friends become members of your extended family and your neighbours become your friends. The preparations begin well in advance with the shopping, the planning of the sweets and the savoury items, the purchase of gifts, etc. The air fills up with a feeling abundance and expectancy and there is a spring in every step. Covid has changed the way we look at life and everything that comes with it. We have re-configured our thoughts and our expectations; our relationships be it with our close family members, our extended family, or our friends, they have found new definitions and dimensions. The lifting of the restrictions just before the festive season has come as a great relief to all of us. The extended lock down, like everything
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else has had its pros and cons and scale has tipped to different sides for different families. But whatever be the scenario, it would be safe to say that we all are happy to get that extra breath of fresh air (sans the masks) and the opportunity to catch up with friends in ‘real’ space.
Parul I spoke to a few of my friends and acquaintances about their thoughts about Diwali and everything it brings with it in
OCTOBER I 2021
2021. Parulben Mehta has five simple, yet life illuminating messages as we begin this season of Diwali. The first one is about a Brand-New Beginning. Diwali marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year. It rejuvenates us with a sense of freshness and renewed enthusiasm. The second is about Light over Darkness. We need to continuously remind ourselves that no matter how difficult things might seem, the forces of good will always be triumphant in the end. The third is about Spiritual Wealth. Diwali is also the day when people believe in the ability of God to bless them with wealth. She believes the greatest wealth one can possess is spiritual wealth, sincerity, and faith. Fourth on the list is Dispelling Darkness and Ignorance. Parul says that this is also a time for us to clean our minds by dropping all negative baggage from the past. We can choose to cleanse our hearts and fill them with love and compassion that will drive away the darkness of hatred and ignorance. And last but not the least, Appreciating Family. This is the time when the whole family gets together for the festival, when we work together, pray together, and appreciate each other.
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