Deepavali Decades Ago
10:15:00 PMKrishna RaoGetting up at 4am was a norm during the entire deepavali celebration.
Take an early morning bath with scented utna(a concoction of aromatic herbs and spices) and the huge Mysore sandal soap or Moti sabun from Tata Chemicals.
After the bath touch the feet of all the elders in the family and wish them a Happy Deepavali.
Our clothes would be brand new and all were stitched by the local darzi.
We would have gone back to him at least once to redo and undo what he had done to our Binny and Tata cottons. The new chappals were from the Bata showroom.The handkerchief was from Calico mills.The topi would be from Dadar Panche depot.
Just after we finish the namaskar rituals we would be herded to the devghar to light lamps and do pooja to our Guru's. We had Guru parampara so never had pictures of any Gods but they were of Gurus only. Saibaba and Dattatreya beamed from their pictures. We were always reminded that this is the only photo of Saibaba which was given by Him to my great grandmother and there is no other copy.
Out from the devghar we were called for faral or to eat sweets and stuff made for Deepavali. Ladu, karanji, chivda, anarse, chiroti, chakali and so many other sweets that we as small kids literally hogged them along with the tea served.
We could then go to our relatives places with a thali filled out with the above faral.The plate was always covered by those Calico rumaal.
Some of the relatives would welcome us with snide remarks or tell us to sit down for sometime before they filled out the same plate with the sweets made by them.
Then they again covered it by the same handkerchief.
We used to run home with the thali and wait to open it and see and criticize the return faral. Sometimes they gave us what others had given them or from the mithaiwala. I loved a few sweets like the kaju katli and imarti so if someone gave it in return I would gobble it down.
The whole day went with a lot of festivities and greetings to each and everyone.
We had a full meal which never changed at all.
Varanbhat, batatachi bhaji, kobi, koshambir, shira, kheer, puri and all such lovely stuff...I should not forget the vangi bhajji.
Here is the secret...Saibaba liked the above stuff so it was made that way.
The afternoon was forced sleep for an hour or so with a threat that we would not be allowed to burst crackers if we didn't sleep, so we slept or pretended to sleep.
The evening tea later we visited the local garden for a stroll and our only thoughts were the crackers.
Evening time and we gathered in our terrace or the open space and brought out all the phuljhadis, zamen chakkars,rockets, laxmi bombs, tudtudi or the small phatakis, pistols and tiklis.There were so many of them. I hated the snake and the horrible smelling ones. The pantis or deeyas were always looking so bright on the dark night of Deepavali.
Exhausted after the bursting of crackers we all took to the bed with a lot of whispers and buzz around.
There was no telly to check out, neither was there any telephone or sms'.
Those were the simple times and there was fun and frolic all around us.
I sure do enjoy the thoughts the olden times have left behind but today the fervor is all about electronics, fast paced life, cellphones and modern crackers.
It is a great time in the here and the now as well as in the olden times.
Wishing you a very happy deepavali and blessings to all.
2 comments
Changing times...
ReplyDeleteYes, Harish. But I like today even better. There was Rajesh Khanna then and now it is Saif and Katrina too. Love all of it. thanks harish and happy new year to you.
ReplyDelete