Diwali in Snow

Diwali – the festival of light and which generally marks the beginning of winters, as my dad puts it, has always been my favourite.
The house smells beautiful from diyas (small earthen bowls filled with purified oil for lighting using a cotton wicker), candles and incense sticks.
It’s the time in the year when the whole family gets to do a proper long prayer together. And I absolutely love to sit with my parents and sisters to do the pooja (prayer).
I am not a very religious person but yes I definitely love to listen to my parents voice chanting hymns & mantras. I love the stories my mom recites for our benefit, mostly repeated from the last year or previous.
But I love the family atmosphere and then dinner followed by our long drive!
We as a family have always been averse to the use of fireworks and so its always limited to a few at the society level, if any.

It’s been a few years I have been on my own for the festival because of my studies and then job, but I still follow the rituals I have grown up with - Candles, Diyas, incense sticks, prayers and Prasad (holy offerings to god).

This time I was in UK again and so it always includes a visit to the Gurudwara (if u have read my old posts u will know I have turned into a half-Sikh already – courtesy H). We light candles there and pray to Babaji.

So its like, H knows about the Hindu Hymns through me and she (H) helps me understand the prayers read at the Gurudwara.

I had made dinner at home this time because I was home first from work. I made semolina halwa, lentils, brown rice and pasta. Yeah pasta on Diwali because I felt for it!!

This time it was the coldest day of the month and it actually snowed! I was out in the snow moving around candles so that they don’t blow out. When I came back into the house I was looking like a Santa Clause myself with fake beard & moustache from the snow flakes. My skull cap had turned white from cream and all I had to say was the traditional Ho-Ho-Ho.
Diwali celebrated Christmas way!

The high wind factor couldn’t mellow down the festive mood. We had friends over for meal and the day ended beautifully way past midnight.
Diwali is still my favourite festival will always be!

NB: Oh! and did I tell u about my new boots I got on Diwali day after like a real long impatient wait. Well, that has to come in as a seperate blog, a very interesting story to order my boots.