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 | Blogs > romitaNY > Scent of a Woman > Romita And Bombs |
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romitaNY
10/20/2006 7:00 pmLast Read: |
Aati hai teri bahut yaad diwali Woh puja, diya ghar angan rangoli Bhool kar dieting khatey hum mithai Patakhey, phooljhari aur dher si hawaai Aati hai teri bahut yaad diwali  On this eve of Diwali, I couldn’t help but remember my past celebrations of Diwali. I would always be very excited about celebrating Diwali. The preparations would start from days before. When my dad and I would conspire against my Ma. Ma never approved of buying fireworks, especially the ones I preferred. My preference were for the bombs that would have the greatest bang, for spiraling chakris that would be larger than my palm, for Anars that would go a mile high and of course my favorite the rockets. Ma’s idea of lighting fireworks was one tiny phuljhari and one diddlu piddlu rang mashaal. Being daddy’s girl I always got my way, he would buy fireworks for me by the bulk. Hide most of it and show only a small set to my Ma.  I would get up very early on the day of Diwali. My tasks of the day was to see that the part of room where Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi were to be worshiped was neat and clean and well decorated with rangoli and flowers. I would then later decorate the front of the doorway with intricate designs of rangoli as well. Once all the work was over, I would go for my rounds of inspecting other rangoli’s in the building. Sometimes I would give suggestions to other aunties of the building, in creating their designs. My suggestions would always include something off beat, like mixing traditional designs with contemporary ones, or decorating the rangoli with flower petals. The aunties of the building would very patiently listen to me and sometimes act on my suggestions as well. The real drama would take place as the sun went down. All the little kids of the building, whose gang leader I was, would come to our apartment one by one and very timidly ask Ma, “Auntie, where is Romi Didi, we need her downstairs. We’re not gonna start lighting the fireworks unless she is there”. At first Ma would patiently answer them but after dealing with the 10th kid, her patience would blow. She would finally go after my dad and pester him to finish the puja as fast as he could. People trust me, Ganesh and Lakshmi never got worshipped faster anywhere else in the world. After the puja my job was to see to it that all 20 families in the building were given their platters of sweets. Then it was SHOWTIME. /:> It was a sight to see, I would quietly take out my stash of fireworks and go downstairs, with a trail of kids following me. Almost like the Pied Piper of Hamlin. We would all pool our fireworks together. I used to have a competition with two boys in the neighboring building. They once covered a whole strip of road with fireworks and lit them up. The fireworks kept on bursting for almost 30 mins. I was hopping mad, no one, and I mean no one messes with Romita and her Diwali. I asked my little army to get as many tin cans they could. Placed those tiny green bombs very ingeniously called atom bombs and lit them up. The bombs would make the loudest of noise and blow the tin cans mile high. Still unsatisfied I happened to chance upon a crack in one of the columns of our building gate. Looking around to see no one was watching, I placed a few of those green buggers in the crack and lit them up. Well needless to say, there was a big bang and half of the column was gone. Realizing what we had done, we had no choice but to return to our respective homes, with the most innocent of look on our faces.  Next day the adults were wondering who could have done it. No one suspected me to be the culprit. My little band of terrors decided to point the blame on someone else, and yes we did have a readymade scapegoat. Those two boys from the neighboring building were made out to be the mischief-maker.  That was one awesome Diwali, and now I can only reminisce about my good old days. One consolation is still there. Five years back when I was in India during Diwali, my dad still went out and got me a sack full of fireworks, even then my Ma grumbled. But I had a great time lighting every single one of them. Wish you all a very happy and joyous Diwali. 
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10/21/2006 3:06 am |
Have a great Diwali, Romita, with or without nostalgia and let the future ones be even greater. Best wishes to you and yours. Govind
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10/21/2006 5:04 am |
~*~HAPPY DEWALI!~*~ GoodLuck & GodBless
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10/21/2006 7:19 am |
Romi Diwali is a wonderful festival, celebrated all over the world. It symbolises joy, brightness and happiness and is a time when the family is centre stage. It also gives us a chance for reflection about what we have achieved in the past - and our hopes and ambitions for the future. Diwali is now celebrated by different communities across the WORLD and its growing popularity helps to strengthen the bonds between them. We are all deeply touched by the unity, warmth and joy this festival brings each year and the spirit with which it is celebrated. With best wishes at this special time. Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year! Regards Prince
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10/21/2006 5:46 pm |
romi. happy diwali.
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