Happy Dipavali :)

Some festivals are really special. I love Diwali. I love different shades of Diwali that I have seen so far from different angles.

Diwali in hostel life when I was in school. Diwali when I was at home for brief time. Diwali at Santa Cruz. Diwali at the new place in Mountain View with different set of friends. Different types. Different nature. Different celebrations with different people.

As a child I never understood importance of Diwali or any festival, since we are not that much of a religious family. All the enthusiasm I had seen so far was with my mom, when she used to take utter pain in decorating house, lighting it up, doing all the things like Pooja etc. Or how some of my friends were so cheerful in school hostel days on occasions of Ganesh Chaturthi etc. Some how I was a lot aloof in those days. I guess because I had no reference with me to compare. I guess because I had lacked the large family feel which celebrates festivals with equal zest and cheerfulness with lots of relatives and friends. I today understand importance of good relatives and a great friend circle and the people whom you grow up with. These are the people who shape up you as you grow and these are the people whom you look upto and seek motivation. If there is something wrong with this support system, things get messed up pretty nicely. I guess, very few families are blessed with good cheerful atmosphere filled with lot of relatives who are equally good and lots of friends and elders to look upto. I understand the great importance of this support system and how I missed many of these things. And these realizations happen because I have been going through lot of personal transitions lately, by staying in company of diverse people of different cultures and traditions, since I landed in US. Stay in US has done a great favor to me in terms of all this since staying in India, its very hard to understand and get this exposure. I am so happy I am understanding lot of such things.

Hostel life had also taken a toll on my capability of understanding of all the concepts of bonding, festivals, get togethers etc. I think I craved heavily for emotions always, which I did not understand then as a child. Well its good that I at least understand all this now :) Better late than never :) Once there is realization and awareness, somethings could be done, lack of awareness and even if that awareness is there then personal ego, is the cause of many miseries we constantly see around.

Diwali in hostel is something I frankly do not recall at all. I so damn curse my memory for it. Diwali in Deogad was good. Lighting up entire house with electric bulbs, then lighting up colony. Mom used to take so much pain in doing so many things. How I regret now not able to do and understand importance of things then. But I guess, me and my brother seriously lacked company of equal aged children with us, which makes a childhood really special. Small families and staying in a small village have these serious drawbacks I guess. There is tremendous lack of exposure in terms of many things. Diwali in Pune was good, but it lacked the grandiose nature I guess that it could have had. We mostly enjoyed the lightening crackers that were burst by others in Pune skyline from our 6th floor terrace. Again, there was lack of friends in Pune of same age, since we did not grew up in Pune and were there just as students and then during job stay. Again, I did not realize the importance of Diwali then and festivals then.

Diwali in Santa Cruz was awesome. We had a great small Indian group of around 10-15 students. Bengali people were prominent in here. Followed by South Brahmins and some north Indian public. Well cultured Bengalis are extremely cheerful. They have an aura around them. They are sweet. Almost all the students in Santa Cruz were PhD students and mostly couples of my own age. It is here where I really understood importance of families, bondings, couples, festivals, culture and all the happiness life carries other than the professional life. How well cultured and educated families bring more exposure and hold ties together. How the thinking maturity appears even in celebrations and how life could be so peaceful if is present in correct set of people. First year Diwali was great, where we did potluck dinner, pooja, danced, enjoyed. Second year Diwali was even more awesome. There was an elaborate Pooja, which made me feel blessed with its peace and soothing touch. It is in Santa Cruz that I appeared for a course in Art of Living and understood how meditation could bring lot of changes in ones thinking methods. Those were some of the best days I had. We cooked dinner together on diwali night. I had eaten a well cooked full fledged dinner after lots of months and felt nothing could be more blissful than a life contained with good food :) I was so happy. I was in great elevated mood. Here is my blog entry from last Diwali night when I was extremely ecstatic.

And now I am here with again different set of people. These are all Maharashtrians and mainly all localites from Pune, who never had witnessed a life outside Pune till they came for Masters in US. Some of them grew up as friends since junior KG and till Masters in USA, to the extent that they shared same rooms :) What could be more blissful than this? These kids were brought up in great well cultured families which is reflected from just being with them. Who always tell the tales of how fun filled their childhood was with their parents and relatives that surrounded them mostly. Sometimes comparison comes to my mind with my own past. Its natural. I can not suppress those thoughts. Many times I feel, I so missed so many things unlike these kids, who always had some one to protect them, guide them and take care of them while they were growing up. It must have been a great childhood, complete with full fun and no responsibility at all. Pune is a great city to spend your childhood in by gone days. It had its own traditional charm which has started missing since it is becoming cosmopolitan, since introduction of IT. Every development comes at some cost.

Diwali here is going to be good. Surrounded by these great kids, who have an altogether different charm of their own. They enjoy, live every moment, are bonded greatly with their families and Maharashtrian traditions. Lack to some extent the miseries of bad world that lies outside and its problems. I am understanding a totally different way of living from them. It feels so good to be exposed to so many traditions, understand their importance and how they could make life cheerful. It feels bliss. Problems are there always, but occasional happiness that comes from such things, carries its memories for a long time and makes you extremely positive towards things that lie in future. You demand a better future for yourself and for everybody because if everybody around you would progress, then only you would be able to enjoy it with everybody.

Wish you and your family a very Happy & Prosperous Dipawali. May the blessings of Lord always be with you and may your life always sparkle with joy,happiness,peace,love & success. May you be blessed with all the happiness in the world and develop strength to combat the problems with vigor and great attitude.

-Mrunal