Diya in Deepavali… Her Eyes…!

I was shaken from my confusion by that loud yell and before I could react or even realize the source of that yell, I heard another yell and this time it was clear. Pranav was yelling loudly and calling my name.

Turning towards his gate I saw him standing across the road and calling me while Pooja still stood beside the gate holding another sparkler. He signaled me an invitation to join him with the crackers. A sudden smile flashed across my face thinking of the opportunity of celebrating Deepavali with those kids and their beautiful cousin. My heart was already jumping and dancing at the golden opportunity that I had landed into. Consoling my heart to have some control over itself and pleading it to behave properly in front of a beautiful girl, I walked, decently, towards their gate.

“Please help us in lighting crackers. We got crackers this time but Dad said I can only crack them if either he or you will be around and help me,” Pranav said as soon as I walked to him.

Pulling the sleeve of my shirt, he continued, “Please don’t say no. Dad is already busy with guests. I really want to light crackers this time. Please dada.”

Just then Pooja ran to me and said, “Happy Deepavali dada”

“Happy Deepavali Pooja” I said, smiling at her.

“Come on dada let’s celebrate Deepavali” she said.

“Yes yes come on dada. Let’s light crackers. I can’t wait” Pranav added, still holding my sleeve.

“Yeah yeah I will help you light the crackers but quickly run in and get permission from uncle again”

“Okay. Just wait for two minutes” Pranav said and sprang inside his house.

As my eyes followed him, they quickly caught a glimpse of the most beautiful girl. She was still standing at the same position. I was too careful or too afraid to look directly at her thinking that would only give her wrong impression on me. Instead, I turned to Pooja and asked, “So what did you do today?”

“We had been to temple and I ate lot of sweets today and you know what dada, I lighted sparklers and then…”

Before she could continue Pranav was out on the pathway running towards me and yelled loudly, “I got permission now come on lets light the crackers. First this one,” he said holding a small cracker in his hand.

“Pranav sloooow. Be careful”

That was first time I heard her voice. It was as soft and as melodious as I had expected and for a second my heart forced me to turn at her and steal a look at her.

“Slow Pranav. Don’t run in between the Diyas and the first rule of lighting crackers is you ought to be extra careful” I said.

“Okay dada” he said.

“I will get Agarbatti” Pooja said and walked inside the gate.

Within seconds Pooja was back holding a lighted Agarbatti and she carefully handed it over to me.

Holding that Agarbatti I turned to Pranav and said, “I will light this one. Carefully observe me. Later I will allow you to light one. Okay?”

“Okay. Yippee” he said pumping fiercely in air.

Making sure they were safe near the gate, I took few steps away from the gate and looked for the right place to keep the cracker. Upon finding one, I placed the cracker on the road in front of their gate, a bit far from gate; I lighted it from the Agarbatti and walked back to the gate. Just when I walked to the gate and turned towards the cracker, it exploded with a loud noise and a small sparkle of fire. A cloud of smoke then rose from it and dispersed into the air.

Just after the noise died down, I heard Pranav’s scream of joy. When I turned at him, I could see happiness filled in his eyes. He was smiling, screaming, clapping, and jumping. It seemed one little cracker blew away all the limits of his happiness. And same was the case with Pooja. Her cute smile had widened clearly saying that she was as happy as her brother. For a second I felt awesome at bringing smiles on the faces of two sweet little kids. I wondered if this was the real happiness of celebrating the festival.

Pranav sprang again inside the gate to bring another cracker and this time called his cousin to join us. I turned back and saw him holding her hand and requesting her to join us. Though I could not clearly see her face as she stood facing towards Pranav on the other side I could clearly tell that she was declining his request.

“Come na Diya didi. It’s so much fun” Pooja shouted as she ran towards her cousin and Pranav.

“Wait! Diya? Did she just say Diya? And since evening I was thinking if she is as beautiful as God himself has lighted thousands of Diyas and now her name is really Diya? Or did I hear it wrong?” I asked my heart, which was as clueless as me and had frozen silent.

While I kept thinking blankly about her name, Pranav and Pooja had already persuaded her in joining us in cracking the crackers and I could hear their joyous cries as they ran to me.

Though I had trained my heart and had told it multiple times to behave in such times, as it does, it again slipped out of my control and forced me turn to take a look at Diya and what a splendid scene it was!

There were Diyas lit on both the sides of the pathway from the porch to the gate and amidst those Diyas, Diya herself, carrying multiple Diyas on her saree, walked slowly towards me. With small and silent steps as she approached the gate, it felt like some angel was walking down the earth towards me. What an elegant and majestic walk it was!

As she walked closer, I could see her face and I bet it was the prettiest face I had ever seen. A moment before my heart had frozen and now it seemed that it had seized to exist. Her cute round face with small pink lips between chubby cheeks was gracefully decorated by a small nose on it. To add to that beauty, she had left her hair loose that were flowing freely in the air celebrating their own Deepavali.

And then something twinkled. Two Diyas twinkled amidst hundreds of other Diyas and what powerful they were! A voltage ran through my body as I looked at those two Diyas… her eyes!

Her eyes twinkled brightly overpowering all the other Diyas lighted in my vision as she had neared me and stood right in front of me and smiled. I was being bowled over by the glow in her eyes when her smile joined the attack. Two cute pink lips widening slightly, creating small dimples on either side in between the chubby cheeks.

Wow! She had the perfect smile that crowned her beauty!

“Now this one” Pranav pulled my arm.

He not only pulled my arm but pulled me out of my dream in which I had lost my heart to that angel! Diya! What an adorable Diya she was! Diya in Deepavali!

With all sorts of romantic thoughts circling my mind, I blurted an okay and took the cracker from him and walked away.

As I placed the cracker and bent down to light it, I tried to be extra careful with my sixth sense sweating at the thought of two twinkling eyes of the prettiest girl I had ever seen, watching my actions. As I lighted the cracker I quickly walked back near the gate where the three of them were standing and staring at the cracker.

There was a still a moment left for the cracker to burst and I took that moment to turn and look at Diya.  She was standing at the farthest end with Pranav and Pooja between us and was staring at the cracker with her eyes blinking randomly and twinkling in between the blinks. She had put her hand over her ears trying to cover them and tried to close her eyes too. The way she behaved made her look cuter and her fear of the cracker brought out the childishness in her. I could see her eyes finally close and her face frown a bit as I heard a loud burst of the cracker.

When, after a moment, the noise of the cracker had died down and Pranav and Pooja were yelling at the top of their voices, I turned back at them and slowly at her. She had brought down her hands and had just opened her eyes and was looking at me. As soon as I looked at her, she blinked once and then blushed and quickly looked down and then turned towards Pooja.

I was damn sure that she had smiled just before she looked down and her eyes twinkled before they blinked!

“We will light the big cracker now” Pranav said.

“No lets light that parachute one” Pooja said.

As the kids argued on the next cracker to be lighted, I again looked at Diya and she too turned at me.

Our eyes met! And our sights got locked! And we both smiled!

No matter what cracker the kids had decided to light next but there were already a number of random crackers cracking, sparkling, and bursting in my heart!

What a lovely Deepavali it was and what a beautiful Diya was glowing in that Deepavali!

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