Diwali wishes and inspirations
Hello! How are you? Hope you are well! It wasn’t that I didn’t have any time to write but I chose and pretended to be too busy to find a little time for myself. I don’t know what was going on. Whenever I sat down to write, I would not get going. Words were not flowing. However, things are getting better here. My son had nominated my name to speak in front of the entire school about Diwali. He had sealed all the doors for me to back out by volunteering to hold his baby brother during the course of my talk. His excitement was so contagious that I wanted to make it special for him. I think kids do enjoy the attention when parents come to school and are on the podium (also they get to sit in the front row with you as suppose to sitting on the floor with his friends). I took some of the words of my talk from this post (Made for boys from 7 -13 years of age).
Diwali is a very special festival for me because I have fond memories of my uncle. He used to have the same childlike excitement even after years and years of celebration. May be that’s the reason his smile and joy in his eyes are ever secure in my heart. Festival of light, celebration of life, hope, goodness and enjoyment are always there and we all know about it. But for me, Diwali inspires me in the following three ways.
- Making time for people you love and care about
- Awareness of the inner light
- Cleanliness
1. Making time for the people you love and care about
This is Diwali for me. No matter how busy you are, you can always make time for your loved ones. For me, memories of spending the Diwali day with my family, cousins and friends are still so livid. As a kid, I remember trying to copy the rangolis shown on the TV adverts. Remember those beautiful rangolis shown in the paint adverts? I would go to the kitchen and get started with some flour and some leftover colours from Holi. I used to try very hard but the rangoli would turn out somewhat distorted. And after some time, there would be an army of ants taking over the flour and chaos all around. As my mum or dad would come out with a broom to clean the mess, my brother blocking the ants’ way, my cousins supporting him – chaos. That’s Diwali – Togetherness!
2. Awareness of inner light
Diwali for me is the killing of the inner demons of self doubt, fear and anger. What do you do when you have a setback? What do you do when things don’t go according to your plans? Due to reasons unexplained, reasons unprecetedented and reasons unforeseen – you get stuck. In these situations, please draw on inferences from the Ramayana and recall the legend. Lord Rama was a prince, destined to be the king of Ayodhya! But something came unalarmed and he had to live in the forest for 14 long years! Now, similarly in our lives there are moments of despair, disbelieve and disappointment. May not be for 14 long years but may for be a for a few seconds, minutes or days. When they struck you, they struck hard. You might feel lost and start comparing your lives with your friends. However, important thing is to realise that there is light within you which will sail you through. If you wait a little longer, good things will come your way as well.
3. Cleanliness
The legend is that if you keep your house spick and span during the Diwali days, the goddess of wealth and prosperity – goddess Lakshmi will visit your place. How do I see this tradition? If you keep you house clean regardless, (for children their room and making the bed) then if by chance you have had a terrible day, you come home to a clean room. Half of you worries will go away and even if they don’t go away, you can lie down in the nicely made bed and sleep.
Wish you all a very happy, safe, healthy and blessed Diwali. If it has inspired you, do leave a word:-)
Much love
Suranjita
