Diya in Deepavali…!

“What are you doing? Its festival today” Mom said, for the third time since morning.

I had spread myself comfortably on the couch holding the remote and pressing the only button that’s really useful on it, the one to surf the channels.

“Watching TV and waiting for breakfast” I replied back, without taking my eyes off the TV screen.

“Its festival, don’t just lie down. It’s a bad sign to sleep during this hour of the day” she said.

With all the resistance I got up and sat upright but kept my eyes glued onto the TV screen. After all, it was a long vacation we had got from our college and I was not going to miss any chance of activating the laziest part of myself and enjoy the vacation to the fullest along with all the sweets and crackers and some cricket with friends.

“Do you need to watch TV this early in the morning?” she said after a while during which she had probably waited for me to switch off the TV.

“Mom, it’s a holiday. Let me enjoy it. I will watch until breakfast then switch it off. I woke up so early today for the Pooja. Now I will only enjoy the day with sweets and sweets and sweets and some rest” I said.

“Its festival today and you are lying on the couch since morning, even after your bath. Help your Dad in tying the Torana. Or better help me with these garlands.”

“What garlands?” I turned quickly and saw two fresh garlands she had just prepared with the jasmine flowers from our garden.

“These two need to be hung on those photos” she said pointing to the large photos of Lord Venkateshwara and Lord Ganapti.

“Okay Mom, shoot me with all the work today” I said, switching off the TV and getting up from the couch.

“Its festival and you should be all active in doing these kinds of auspicious works. It is a part of festival and this is how you really should celebrate a festival. Not only you celebrate the festival fully but you will also get the pleasure of doing such activities during festivals.”

“Yeah Mom I know. These are all simple yet sweet ways of serving God” I said picking up a garland.

“Then why are you whining to hang the garlands? You just want to lie down all day on that couch”

“No Mom. I was just waiting for you to finish preparing the garlands”

“Leave it. Don’t give reasons now. Just finish that quickly and then come for breakfast and call Dad as well”

“Wow! Now that is the work which you should be calling me for. I have been waiting to taste those yummy Laddus since yesterday! I just love festivals!” I said as I walked towards the photo.

The call for breakfast acted like a trigger on me as I quickly did the work I was handed over and once done with it, I walked outside, to the porch where Dad was busy preparing the Torana and helped him too, surprisingly. And then, hanging them onto both the doors I ran into the kitchen for breakfast.

Munching the numerous sweets and snacks Mom had prepared for Deepavali, I was already in heaven! The festival had already started with a holiday, early morning Pooja, and other festival related tasks and the whole environment had already turned pious giving that special zeal for celebrating the festivals. But it was the sweets that completed the feel of festival.

“Where are your friends?” Dad asked.

“One has gone to his Uncle’s home for the festival. Other two are here” I said, my mouth still filled with the large bite of Laddu.

“You haven’t got crackers this time?” he asked.

I was still chewing and my mouth was full. After a moment when the large bite of the deliciously sweet Laddu was completely chewed into pieces and had already started melting in my mouth, the tongue got busy savoring the sweetness while my tummy waited hungrily. I knew my tongue wouldn’t allow me to gulp down until it savors to its fullest and I just nodded a NO to my Dad instead of keeping him waiting for my answer.

“Are your friends coming over here in the evening for crackers or will you be going to their place?” he asked again.

This time I had swallowed down the Laddu and my mouth was free but my hand had already grabbed another snack and my teeth were waiting to dig deep into that. Before my mouth got busy again, I replied, “No Dad, we haven’t yet decided anything. Most probably we will not be firing any crackers this time”

“Why?”

“One of them is not here, the other one said they have relatives visiting their home so he will be busy with his cousins this time. It’s only me and Shashi left and we haven’t yet planned. Also, it’s so boring without the group” I replied and quickly put in the snack into my mouth and got busy again.

“Okay then let’s go to the temple in the evening” he said.

“Great” I said as I took in another bite; and then suddenly realized that I had confused my Dad and Mom if my appreciation was for the snack or for the idea of visiting the temple.

It was exactly 6 PM when I had finished writing up the boring project report and walked out of my room when I saw Mom preparing the Diyas. My eyes suddenly brightened and my mood freshened up at the sight of Diyas. Finally the time had come for the real moment of Deepavali – lighting the Diyas and decorating the house with a number of them! 

“The festival of lights is here!” I said to myself, of course with a smile!

It’s so true that the auspicious Diyas not only lighten up the house but also enlighten our moods and our inner self. We feel so fresh and happy seeing those small burning lights. Not only an auspicious feeling blooms in our mind and body but those small lights also do excite us in celebrating the festival more grandly.

I was so thrilled by the sight of those Diyas that the boring work I had just done in writing up two pages for a project vanished away and the zeal of celebrating the festival replaced it. Quickly running in and freshening up myself, I came back and sat along with Mom and started helping her in pouring the oil after she placed the cotton wick in each of the Diyas. After that was done, she carefully lighted them up one after another while I kept staring at the first lit Diya with the same excitement that I had during my childhood days.

“Let’s carry two each and place them on the porch. One near the Tulsi plant and others on the porch” she said.

“Okay Mom” I said standing up and picking up two Diyas.

We walked out and I placed the two Diyas just outside on both the sides of the front door while Mom walked towards the Tulsi plant. As I placed the Diyas I took two steps back and took a quick look at the door and my excitement just doubled with my work appeasing myself.

I then turned back to take a look at the Tulsi plant when something else caught my eyes.

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To be Contd…

Vishal…

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A Very Happy Diwali !!

And once again the festival of lights has come and along with it has brought smiles on every face!

There is nothing much to tell you all about the festival; you all know its background, its rituals and etc etc better than me. So this is no article with any explanation… This is just my hearty Diwali wishes to my dearest Sunday Readers!

The only thing is Diwali is more of a celebration than a festival. It is that time of the year when you truly overcome your sorrows, worries and bury them beneath happiness. Moreover, your conscience comes alive in not only burying those feelings but burning them out and spreading the happiness just like the light spread by the Diya lit in front of every home. You come out of your houses, come out of your much occupied work, ease out of your daily routine and spend these days with family and friends, enjoying the decorations, lights, crackers, talks, sweets and celebrations!

There is a scent of happiness and liveliness in the air of life. Every person comes out with a new enthusiasm for life, a new light to focus on the coming years, a new ray of the new happy beginning and lots of sweets to savor all the happiness filled in life. And why not? This should happen and keep continuing for the rest of the year.

Let all your life be filled with the vibrant colors of success, loud cracking noises of victories, brightest Diya to light your path, sweets at your every pit stop, joyous celebrations all along the way and happiness in every moment of your life!

I hope this Diwali brings in the same bright colors with which you all have started celebrating it, it keeps cracking the victory crackers for you, it keeps sweetening life more the sweets of successes, it brightens the Diya every next day and it keeps happiness glued to your life making it just more happier and more prosperous every passing moment!!

Wishing All My Dearest Sunday Readers A Very Happy and Prosperous Diwali… and a safe one too!!!

Vishal…

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Its October…!

A week had passed since commence of the tenth month of the year, October. Normally known for a bunch of holidays and festivals, it brings in lots of celebrations, enjoyments, gatherings, and also slowly but noticeably it brings in a hint of winter while the frequency of rains decrease. As the rains slowdown leaving their footprints as potholes and clear skies and with sudden surprised downpour during evenings, the temperature drops down accompanied with regular cool breezes and chilly nights. Even few mornings seem chilly if we wake up early and dare to get out of the cozy blanket and step out of the bed. A perfect post-monsoon month!

It feels the right time for a cup of hot tea, be it morning or evening! And how heavenly it feels by that relief from the continuous downpour that got us stuck inside the house, for months, to get some fresh air with a cup of hot tea, accompanied with lots of spicy pakoras, in that weather which is neither too hot and perspiring as the summers nor harshly chilled like the months of December and January!

It was during those days in that second week of the month when he got up from his bed a bit early only to find out that it was another holiday and he could have got himself some more sleep. But once out of his bed, he rather decided to start his day and plan something. Quickly getting himself through a rigorous activity of getting fresh, he prepared a cup of hot tea for himself and walked to the window beside his bed. The cool breeze filled up the whole room freshening it within seconds as he opened the window pane. He felt fresh as he smelled the fresh air from the window and took a sip of the tea. With his first glance at the sky he smiled when it showed no signs of rain. It seemed as though the black monsoon clouds had gone for a stroll to the neighboring city. It was sunny but the effect of Sun had been minimized by the few silver clouds spread randomly across the sky.

The second sip of the tea widened his smile while he seemed to get lost in some unknown world as he closed his eyes for a moment. The cool breeze kept blowing on his face while the hot steam filled his nostrils with the aroma of tea. He felt proud for he could prepare such good tea.

Slowly he pulled a chair and seated himself beside the window, but he felt that odd as he had never done it in all the four long years that he had been staying in that house. All those years he had either spent those lovely mornings lying lazily in his bed scrolling the Facebook page in his mobile or hurrying through his daily activities only to make sure that he reached office before his manager. With that thought he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t checked his mobile since he had opened his eyes. It lay silent in its position near his pillow. He fought the urge to get up and get it; instead he glued himself on the chair and slid down a bit making himself comfortable. With another look at the sky, he took another sip.

As he took in more sips, the hot tea did its magic awakening his brains and his body from within. He was amazed because not only he felt much fresh and active early in the morning, but he was enjoying a cup of tea like he had never enjoyed it in those years. He had either rushed to gulp it down through his throat because he had to be at work or he had to return back home. Few times the tea would have turned cold as it sat idly waiting at his desk while he dug himself in some task and forgot the tea which was right in front of his eyes, only to realize later and gulp it down without even getting to taste it. The cold tea had never worked as magically as the hot tea was working now on his mind. He felt foolish as he remembered an incident where he had actually started enjoying the tea but later had given in to a TV program and lost the enjoyment of a real tea magic. But now he kept looking at the blue sky patched randomly with the curiously shaped silver clouds that looked like his childhood blue colored blanket stitched with patches of cartoon characters all over it. Though it felt childish, he did make out a shape of a cloud to be similar to an elephant without tail like he used to do during his childhood along with his friends.

Pursing in his lips, as he gulped down another hot sip, and looked around the room. He had everything in the room, a TV which stood proudly on a stand in front of the bed, his new mobile that lay beside his pillow and his iPad that lay on the same TV stand but none of them had been able to work the magic that the hot tea was doing now along with the fresh air and a childish look at the sky. The work that he had buried himself into, the same work that got him all the recognition he needed making him wealthy had also failed to get this feeling that he was feeling now. For a moment he thought why really he rushes to work so early and returns late itching for more work and more load; and if ever it was necessary and worth.

A numerous thoughts kept coming in but he fought against each one of them and sat comfortably with a firm decision of enjoying the cool morning with all the freshness and simple things that he was now feeling amazed of!  The simple and the sweet nature had won against all the gadgets that had surrounded him since years of which he was habituated! He now did felt his mind neither asking him to get up from the chair and take a look at the mobile for the messages or to scroll his FB page nor did it ask him to switch on the TV; it just told him, “It’s your life and it’s your day, just enjoy it!”

He didn’t even realize that he had finished the tea, enjoying it to its max, while he was calculating how busy and materialized his life had become that he had been missing all the small things, surprisingly available freely in nature, that in reality brought a happy smile on his face; instead keeping him occupied in the busy and boring world of yearning of an unknown dream and a mighty account while driving him remote from the sweet and simple world of nature that was filled with family, friends, and lots of fun and which was free!

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Wishing you all dear readers a sweet and simple and safe autumn, a free gift from nature! 

Don't forget to enjoy this autumn with a hot cup of tea and a plate full of pakoras!

Vishal…

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Group Studies!!

“Where the hell were you guys?” Santosh yelled at me as I entered his study room followed by Suthi.

“Traffic jam” I said grinning at him.

“What traffic jam in this town?” he asked.

“What question is that? There was traffic jam and we got stuck in it” Suthi snarled back at Santosh.

“That’s what I am asking you geniuses. What kind of traffic jam was there in this town and where was that, that got you both exactly half an hour late? Leave alone traffic jam, even if there was full traffic on the way to my home, you guys should have reached thirty minutes back” Santosh said, now a bit angrily to Suthi.

“Dude! So what? We got late now. Why are you getting angry for that?” I asked taking my seat on his bed.

“Rascals, in two days we have our Semester Exams and I am waiting for you guys sitting tensed here and you both come happily thirty minutes late and ask me why angry? I am tensed like hell!” Santosh said, still standing and looking at both of us who had already seated ourselves comfortably on his bed.

“Even we are tensed. That’s why we have come here to read. Now don’t waste time standing like that. Let’s start studying” Suthi said pushing a chair at him.

“Shut up. You came late and now are telling me not to waste time?” Santosh yelled at him.

“Okay. Calm down. We agree we came late. But you should have studied in that half hour. Who told you to sit here looking out of this window waiting for us as though we were your girlfriend?” I asked, spreading my legs making myself a bit more comfortable.

“Yes exactly. You could have utilized those precious 1800 seconds and studied more without our disturbance” Suthi said.

I wondered why and more importantly how in the hell he did that fast conversion of minutes to seconds and took a moment to check if his conversion was correct; surprisingly it was!

“Its waste arguing with you guys. I did study those thirty minutes and dint waste them” Santosh said.

“Then why are you moaning?” I asked.

“Who is moaning? I just asked why late? I wanted to know the reason that got you both late here else I have no complaints about you both coming late. It’s absolutely fine at whatever time you come”

“Then tell that you want to know where were we that got us a bit late here”

“That was my first question dude” Santosh replied and I could notice a hint of impatience in his tone.

“Both of you please stop talking. I am here to study not to while away my time” Suthi said.

“Yes, just forget what I asked. Let’s start studying” Santosh said, calmed down a bit.

I checked my watch and saw the time was already 7:45 PM. Quickly I opened one of the scariest books I had ever seen in my life – Signals and Systems. I could have sat the whole night all alone in a remote house full of spider webs and creepy noises and could complete a horror book with my heart skipping few beats at moments; but my heart stopped beating even in broad daylight amidst the whole town whenever I opened this text book.

“Man who invented this subject” I whined.

“Seriously dude, whatever page I am opening I see blank pages coz all the pages seem same to me and none of the word makes sense” Suthi said.

“I have been reading since noon and have completed only ten pages yet. That too has not made its way in my brain” Santosh continued.

“Okay as decided lets divide the chapters among ourselves and start studying seriously” Suthi said sitting straight.

“If we get that serious we would need ambulance” I said smiling.

“You and your disgusting PJ” Suthi hit back.

“What’s the abbreviation of PJ?” Santosh asked.

“Parallel Joke” I said.

“No it’s actually Pantophobia Joke” Suthi said.

“Now what the hell is Pantophobia? A phobia of pants?” Santosh asked.

Finally after a long discussion on PJs and Pantophobia; when we came to a conclusion that neither PJ meant what we had said nor Pantophobia meant fear of pants; it was already 8:20 PM. We decided to be serious and opened that dreadful book again and turned pages to get to the chapters we had decided to read.

“Dude, this is cheating. You both gave me the toughest chapter to read. I cannot read this. Not even a single line is getting into my head” Suthi yelled disgustingly as I saw the time and it was already 8:22 PM. Good God, he had atleast put his head down for two complete minutes.

“Just read whatever you want to read except for the chapter that we are reading” I said.

“But those two are the easiest ones” he said.

“Okay then you take mine. I will check some other chapter” Santosh said.

Again a pact was made and with the exchanged chapters we bent down our heads staring at the book, again.

I had hardly read the first page of the chapter that I was reading and had hardly understood three words of it when I felt my throat dry up and coughed. Looking up I checked for the water bottle beside the desktop and saw it was empty.

“Dude, please get me some water” I asked Santosh as I coughed few more times.

“I told you that Chat was already spicy but you insisted on getting more chat masala to be added” Suthi said.

“You guys had chat on the way? That’s what your traffic jam was! Shameless!” Santosh said.

“Yes that’s where we got late. Now what? Get me water quickly” I said.

“You could have called me also. I would have joined you both” Santosh said.

“It was not planned. We just saw it on our way and couldn’t control” I replied.

“Whatever. You both are traitors!” Santosh said and walked out of the room.

While he was out, Suthi got up from the bed and went over to the desktop and switched it on. It was on hibernate and once switched on completely, the NFS folder came up. Quickly clicking on it without waiting another second he started a game of NFS. He was just in his final lap when Santosh entered the room and looked at the desktop screen with his eyes wide open.

“Does he know that we have Signals and Systems exam in just 2 days?” Santosh said looking at me as I took the bottle of water from his hands.

“That’s what I told him but he says one game will refresh his mind and then he can concentrate” I said after gulping down some water quickly.

“It’s already 9 PM” Santosh said looking at the wall clock that hung right above the desktop.

“Oh man! We already wasted two hours” I said and slapped on the back of Suthi which hit him a little more hard than I had expected and in turn his fingers slipped from the keys and he almost lost the match that he was about to win.

“Rascal you spoiled my match” he said turning me.

“Haha if you lost don’t blame him” Santosh said taking the water bottle from hand and drinking water from it.

“I was about to win. Don’t challenge me” Suthi replied.

“Okay, now I am challenging you. Come on let’s play and check who wins” Santosh said.

“You guys don’t want to read?” I asked.

“You just keep quiet, you never won this game and are afraid of playing it” Suthi said.

“Yes, you can keep reading while we will play one-one game” Santosh added.

“What the hell! I will also play now and will see who wins” I said, folding the book and pushing it aside.

We started a NFS series with Suthi playing first followed by Santosh and then me. After a lot of hassle and confusion and cries and yells the NFS challenge completed.

“Now you agree you are not champ?” Santosh asked Suthi who was just giving out few excuses on why he couldn’t top among us.

Again finally, when we looked at the wall clock it was 9:40 PM.

“Its already time. Now what shall we do?” Suthi asked.

“What will we do? We can’t study everything in another twenty minutes. Let’s go home and study” I said.

“Yes right. We know we spend up the time like this when we meet for group studies but still we meet up” he said.

“Right, we never get serious” Santosh added.

“That’s good guys, because if we get serious we will have to call ambulance” I said with a grin.

“Stop your useless PJ” Suthi said as Santosh threw the pen he was holding at me.

The rest few minutes went in discussing about another PJ that was cracked few days back in college and then discussing about planning a film after the exams.

Again finally, when we were out of Santosh’s home ready to depart I looked at my watch; it was 10:15 PM and the group studies had ended…

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Remembering the awesome college days…

Vishal…

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