Festival of lights ...

Jerome K. Jerome is easily one of my most favourite authors of all time -- I can copiously quote from "Three Men in a Boat" -- almost verbatim, even though my memory is typically only a few kilobytes when it comes to remembering anything of consequence. Well, the festival of lights -- Deepavali -- just brought to mind a passage from this book:


"We are creatures of the sun, we men and women. We love light and life. ... In the sunlight -- in the daytime, when Nature is alive and busy all around us, we like the open hill-sides and the deep woods well enough: but in the night, when our Mother Earth has gone to sleep, and left us waking, oh! the world seems so lonesome, and we get frightened, like children in a silent house. Then we sit and sob, and long for the gas-lit streets, and the sound of human voices, and the answering throb of human life. We feel so helpless and so little in the great stillness, when the dark trees rustle in the night-wind. There are so many ghosts about, and their silent sighs make us feel so sad. Let us gather together in the great cities, and light huge bonfires of a million gas-jets, and shout and sing and feel brave."

Well, it is still valid in this day and age! One can relate to what he says -- from early childhood, we learn to look for the moon in the sky. And, mothers all around the world can testify to its remarkable ability to calm down wailing infants.

As the moon waxes, the night sky is brighter and our moods are uplifted. When we are gloomy, the new moon weighs us down and we long for it to grow again and comfort us. Most of our festivals are celebrated on new moon days -- perhaps to improve our spirits ! Deepavali -- the festival of lights -- is celebrated on a Krishnapaksha Chathurdashi (meaning the fourteenth day in the waning phase) -- the day before the new moon.

Deepavali literally means row of lamps. Earthern lamps (known as Ahal Vilakku in Tamil) used to be the norm about four decades back -- now traditions have grown to include new technology. Strings of colourful electric lights adorn the outside of most homes. Earthern lamps are still used, but are now hand-painted. I was proud to see my five-year old decorate a few with glitter pens (you can see them in the collage). She was also happy to colour the kolams. The floating candles enchanted her the most, though. Her eyes lit up on seeing them and she insisted on switching off all the lights to enjoy them better. I actually succeeded in my attempt to make a traditional milk cake and the nada pakodas I made were nice and crisp -- it is amazing how some constructive comments from your daughter can make you attempt new recipes. It certainly reminded me of all the bhakshanams Amma used to make for Deepavali. Fireworks are the highlight of this festival -- for the most part of the week, the night sky sparkled and resonated in a riot of colours and sounds.


each day
the stars come out
a little earlier ...

(Asahi Shimbun Oct 21, 2011 issue)

after the fireworks display
the night sky --
a lot darker