We had a busy last week! It
was Diwali, of course :) And to add to the festive mood, we had Halloween the next day!
Growing up, Diwali
used to be my favorite festival. On further thought, it still is. First there
were the new clothes, Diwali holidays(with lots of homework too, but we always tried to finish
the homework before the festivities began), the delicacies prepared by mom (my
mouth waters whenever I think of those), the prayers (and the subsequent rituals)
and most importantly the fire-crackers (Dad used to get loads of crackers &
we used to divide them equally amongst the three of us and then further divide
our own share into three more parts, for bursting them for three days). We hardly cared about the environment those days and just had fun with our friends. Ahh, the good old days!
I wish Angel could experience the
same thrill for Diwali as I did. All I can do is try! Try to make Diwali
memorable, something that she would remember fondly and celebrate spiritedly when she is grown up.
And
try I did. So I mailed her teachers explaining the festival giving some details
& pictures. Next I heard is they read a book about Diwali to the class.
They even tried to make rangolis. So
the children colored the coarse salt and left it to dry one day and the next
day they arranged it in different patterns. It was a beautiful effort!
We live in a carpeted
apartment, so we couldn’t make the traditional rangoli (also, I have never made a rangoli before and I don’t have any creative genes) so Angel and me
made play dough rangolis!
We also did 3D paper diya craft activity, just so that some
excitement rubs off on her.
I made some sweets and snacks
so that it feels like Diwali is approaching.
Angel loved the ladoos, she gobbled them and requested
for more. The 1st batch of ladoos
is finished already and I am already getting requests for the second batch.
That is a huge thing for me since she hardly likes eating, forget about
requesting something for making a second time!
We were so glad that Diwali
was on a Sunday this time. So on the day of Diwali, we got dressed and headed
for Arya Samaj. I had tried to call
them a couple of times, but couldn’t connect with them and we found that it was
closed. So we headed to a temple next and attended the prayers. In the evening
we went to the same temple again to burst the fire-crackers. Angel was skeptical at first and even afraid, but after watching us for some time, she tried her hands at holding the sparkles and later told me that I was right and it was fun :) We had some time
in hand so went to Swaminarayan temple next as J* had heard from his colleagues
that it is beautifully decorated. To our great surprise, we could find the acharya
khichdi in the food court they had specially put on account of Diwali which was
missed the last time we went there. I had to eat it (even though I was done
with my dinner) as its one of my few favorite foods. We left with full stomachs
and beaming hearts.
Angel’s teacher had requested
me to share the picture of Diwali with her so that she could share it with the class
and Angel described to her friends that what was what. The teacher later told me that
it was a great learning for other children and the children were sharing
stories of Diwali with their parents J
The next day was Halloween and
Angel, being the fan of 123 Sesame Street, dressed up as the Cookie Monster.
We
also carved a pumpkin for the first time which we picked from a pumpkin patch. Angel was not happy with the happy
face and wants a scary faced pumpkin for the next Halloween.
She also went for ‘Trick
or Treat’ for the first time and returned with a bucketful of candies and
treats.
We had a wonderful time this
year while celebrating the double festivals!
