My Deepavali in the 90s!

As the festive season falls upon us, I find myself reminiscing about my childhood Deepavali celebrations. I wonder if I could ever find the same excitement for the festival. My happiest and colorful Deepavalis were at my paternal grandmother's place in Mannargudi. It is a very small town near Thanjavur. There would be at least 10 of us in the big, old-fashioned house with thinnais on the exterior, one on each side of the door leading in to a long mitham at the center of which stands a tulasi maadam welcoming the guests. The living room, elevated from the mitham, turned super hot from the blazing heat that poured into it during the summer and super chill and breezy during the winter. I had spent most of my time there with my twin sister and my two cousins Baddu and Balaji. Wow, it feels like a distant dream now. Splashing water on each other from the cement tub in the rendaam kattu (second part or portion), the bathroom that did not have a ceiling, was one of our favorite time pass. Sacks of rice were once piled a little away from the long wooden swing in the living room. Four of us, kids around the age 7 or 8 I think, had so much fun swinging very high and landing on the pile of sacks. I remember the afternoons I spent making tiny vessels out of clay and filling them with juices squished out of the plants in the backyard.

On the day of Deepavali, we would wake up at 4 in the morning. All our new dresses would be stacked up in front of the pooja room. We'd head there straight out of bed and sit in front of the dresses waiting for our grandparents. Our thaatha and paati, who are no more, would rub some oil in our head and give us the new dress. Sometimes we, the kids, had to use the mitham for our bath as the bathroom was reserved for the elders. We didn't have geysers back then. They heated water in a large vessel on a wood-burning stove. After a hot steaming bath, we would dress up quickly, shivering and quivering, to join our cousins. There used to be a competition between the neighbors as to who will be the first to fire a sara vedi and decorate the road. Sara vedi has always been my favorite. It doesn't go Boom!!! with an unpleasant deafening noise. It is more like Pada Pada Pada ;) like a girl chattering loud and clear. Then busuvanam (flower pot) is my second favorite. Again it is an agreeable sound, BhuzzZZZzz, and a treat to the eyes too. But something has changed these days. I am no longer interested in firing crackers. May be I am growing old ;) It's just too noisy and smoky out there! Well, going back to my child hood now, my dad or uncle usually rushed to be the first to fire a saram in the street. We would all then light flower pots in a row. When the morning loses its last bit of darkness and it is no longer possible to enjoy the dazzling light from the crackers, we would start lighting the paambu maathirai (snake tablet) which when lit, rises and coils into snake like shapes. When the cracker frenzy is over finally, we would get to the endless varieties of sweets and savories. Oh dear god, ravaa laadu was and is still my favorite. I take each and every bite hoping to find that buried treasure of a cashew nut or an almond! Ah and the very famous, Deepavali Marundhu! Well, It is a kind of medicine, a dark green colored paste, made to keep your digestive system working as you keep over working it. Then there would be calls from our relatives asking, 'Ganga snanam aacha?'. I should find out why they ask that! :) Do you know?

Wishing you all a colorful and vibrant Deepavali!