Diwali Thoughts
View without the sound
Diwali can be very soothing if you enjoy it from the sky. In the last few years we have taken off a couple of times on Diwali evening for an overseas trip. Delhi looked stunning, all lighted up. It was a huge city bathed in its full glory. The lights, the diyas, the fireworks all combine to make it into a spectacle. The rockets and the aerial fireworks looked wonderful as they exploded without any sound. You could see the hint of a haze but smell of pollution was thankfully missing in the confines of the aircraft. If you were ever to fly on Diwali evening, make sure you get a window seat. It will be worth your while.
Penance and after
The biggest attraction of Diwali amongst our friends is the cards parties. Unable to wait any further, the parties started soon after Dusherra this year. They didn’t start before Dusherra as ‘Navratras’ disallow the drinking and non veg consumption to most god fearing people. After 9 days of penance and sacrifice, it is time to delve into Diwali revelry with gusto. The wine shops do roaring business and butcher shops are full. People are in a hurry to eat and drink whatever they have missed out in the last 9 days. The pubs & restaurants come to life and Delhi becomes a throbbing city.
Grid Locked
The throbbing Delhi ensured that I stayed on roads for 5 hours in a day, 2 days before Diwali. I wasn’t trying to go shopping or visiting friends but just attempting to go to office and come back. There is a term coined by Delhi Police which is called ‘grid locked.’ This happens when sensing a stoppage time of more than a minute, our adventurous motorists take on to the other side (wrong side of the road). We play ‘follow the leader’ very well so more than a few follow him. Then suddenly everyone goes on the other side. They ensure that the oncoming traffic comes to a halt as well. So traffic comes to a complete halt from both sides and a 2 minute stoppage becomes a 2 hour stoppage with multiplier effect taking this jam to other crossings as well. In the days leading to Diwali we had grid locks everywhere. This is more evident in places where BPO taxi drivers rule the roads. I learnt from this experience and bunked office and stayed at home a day before Diwali. A very sensible decision, I am told by those who were on the road that day.
Well wishers
The phones start beeping a day before Diwali. I received SMS messages wishing me ‘happy Diwali’ from my friends, from my dhobi, from office drivers, from property agents, from travel agents, from clubs, from the restaurants and even from a petrol pump. The telecom companies were smart. They increased the price of an outgoing SMS message for these 2-3 days. While I was struggling to delete these impersonal messages even without reading them, the telecom companies were laughing their way to the banks. Now they are waiting for Christmas and New Years.
Imagination rules
Indians are supposed to be the most creative and imaginative people in the world. Nothing exemplifies it more than a cards table. A simple game of ‘flush’ is turned upside down by plethora of variations. Each person out does the other by coming up with a weirder variation. The more complicated and illogical the variation is, the more successful it is deemed. Normal ‘flush’ is branded as boring. Unfortunately, most of these variations go over my head. I go blank when I am dealt 7-8 cards, asked to discard a few, make a joker out of 2 cards which are either ‘kissing’ (continuous cards) or ‘skipping’(alternate cards), allowed to play only if I have a joker and then after figuring out with great difficulty that I have a trail, I end up losing all my money as everyone ends up with a trail!
Aftermath
The day after Diwali I got up bleary eyed with continuous late nights and revelry. The roads were dirty with the remains of fire-crackers. Pollution of night before had caused wife to get pimples, ‘ma in law’ to get wheezing and kids to have sore throats. Wife complained that none of the house helps was going to turn up and it was a newspaper holiday. With this kind of hangover, the Sunday game of golf was the last thing I looked forward to. If I had been in Lucknow I would have flown kites on what is known as ‘Jhamgat.’ Shockingly, by the end of the day I had played the best golf game of my life hitting 4 birdies and 9 pars. Diwali celebrations continued for one more night!
Diwali can be very soothing if you enjoy it from the sky. In the last few years we have taken off a couple of times on Diwali evening for an overseas trip. Delhi looked stunning, all lighted up. It was a huge city bathed in its full glory. The lights, the diyas, the fireworks all combine to make it into a spectacle. The rockets and the aerial fireworks looked wonderful as they exploded without any sound. You could see the hint of a haze but smell of pollution was thankfully missing in the confines of the aircraft. If you were ever to fly on Diwali evening, make sure you get a window seat. It will be worth your while.
Penance and after
The biggest attraction of Diwali amongst our friends is the cards parties. Unable to wait any further, the parties started soon after Dusherra this year. They didn’t start before Dusherra as ‘Navratras’ disallow the drinking and non veg consumption to most god fearing people. After 9 days of penance and sacrifice, it is time to delve into Diwali revelry with gusto. The wine shops do roaring business and butcher shops are full. People are in a hurry to eat and drink whatever they have missed out in the last 9 days. The pubs & restaurants come to life and Delhi becomes a throbbing city.
Grid Locked
The throbbing Delhi ensured that I stayed on roads for 5 hours in a day, 2 days before Diwali. I wasn’t trying to go shopping or visiting friends but just attempting to go to office and come back. There is a term coined by Delhi Police which is called ‘grid locked.’ This happens when sensing a stoppage time of more than a minute, our adventurous motorists take on to the other side (wrong side of the road). We play ‘follow the leader’ very well so more than a few follow him. Then suddenly everyone goes on the other side. They ensure that the oncoming traffic comes to a halt as well. So traffic comes to a complete halt from both sides and a 2 minute stoppage becomes a 2 hour stoppage with multiplier effect taking this jam to other crossings as well. In the days leading to Diwali we had grid locks everywhere. This is more evident in places where BPO taxi drivers rule the roads. I learnt from this experience and bunked office and stayed at home a day before Diwali. A very sensible decision, I am told by those who were on the road that day.
Well wishers
The phones start beeping a day before Diwali. I received SMS messages wishing me ‘happy Diwali’ from my friends, from my dhobi, from office drivers, from property agents, from travel agents, from clubs, from the restaurants and even from a petrol pump. The telecom companies were smart. They increased the price of an outgoing SMS message for these 2-3 days. While I was struggling to delete these impersonal messages even without reading them, the telecom companies were laughing their way to the banks. Now they are waiting for Christmas and New Years.
Imagination rules
Indians are supposed to be the most creative and imaginative people in the world. Nothing exemplifies it more than a cards table. A simple game of ‘flush’ is turned upside down by plethora of variations. Each person out does the other by coming up with a weirder variation. The more complicated and illogical the variation is, the more successful it is deemed. Normal ‘flush’ is branded as boring. Unfortunately, most of these variations go over my head. I go blank when I am dealt 7-8 cards, asked to discard a few, make a joker out of 2 cards which are either ‘kissing’ (continuous cards) or ‘skipping’(alternate cards), allowed to play only if I have a joker and then after figuring out with great difficulty that I have a trail, I end up losing all my money as everyone ends up with a trail!
Aftermath
The day after Diwali I got up bleary eyed with continuous late nights and revelry. The roads were dirty with the remains of fire-crackers. Pollution of night before had caused wife to get pimples, ‘ma in law’ to get wheezing and kids to have sore throats. Wife complained that none of the house helps was going to turn up and it was a newspaper holiday. With this kind of hangover, the Sunday game of golf was the last thing I looked forward to. If I had been in Lucknow I would have flown kites on what is known as ‘Jhamgat.’ Shockingly, by the end of the day I had played the best golf game of my life hitting 4 birdies and 9 pars. Diwali celebrations continued for one more night!
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