Deepavali again and I love it!

Deepavali!!!

It is once again, that time of the year.

First 10 years: Oil bath, food, crackers, fire works, kites, friends, and lots of fun

Second ten years: Fire works, kites, entertainment, television, movies, food, friends, girl friends and lots of fun

Third ten years: Just the odd sprinklers or rockets, friends, Old monk, beers, Whiskies, dance, looking at kites, bladdered and lots of fun

Currently: Very few drinks, friends, food, dance, and kiddies having lots of fun!!

My earliest memory of Deepavali goes back to, when I was possibly four or five. Appa came home that evening with a big bag full of fire works, most of which were diverted to my uncles in Kanchipuram. Well, we were very young to fire them!

The next one was when Appa got himself incarcerated in Chennai central prison!This was in 1976, following a union strike at his work place which was also the emergency period in India. We were actually dreading that we would not see him for a year or so. He was also a local DMK big shot and most of the DMK wallahs were in prison during that time. Luckily for him and us, he came home right on time but not with many gifts.

Tough days!!!

Deepavali for me was just pure fun. Most of the day, usually would be spent on flying kites, hogging on whatever Amma cooks, playing with friends and in the evening, on fire works. I would actually de- thread a big Oosi pattasu saram and shred them into tiniest piece possible on earth and fire them incessantly, possibly for the next 24 hours! Just to prolong the eternal bliss of firing an Oosi vedi!!

The smell of the pattasu was too much of an addiction, especially during the cold rainy November days. Mind you, Deepavali would, whether we liked or not would be preceded or followed by a cyclonic monsoon, those days.

Who will forget those snake pattasu, Lakshmi vedis, Atom bombs, kuruvi vedis, Sara vedis, Pusvaanams, Mathappu, roll vedi and so on and so forth! I would strive to get as much debris or kuppais in front of the house, as possible, for an eventual show off for the evening with the kuppai kiddies of the block!

The rationale was who ever got the most Kuppais, likely to have fired lots of crackers and fire works!!The traditional day at our home would start with a very early morning oil bath from Amma; bleary eyed to begin with, Gingely or Nalla Ennai oil dripping in and out of eyes, soon would turn into a bliss with that lovely hot water amma gets from, those copper boilers burnt with lots of dried cow shit discs!

Economy and invention!!

I was in 5^th standard, when couple of days before Deepavali; I fell of the bike and broke my right arm. I was sadly parcelled off to Kanchipuram to stay with my grand parents and awful Uncles. Deepavali was not a big occasion at my grand parents those days but Pongal was. I was left on my own, with meagre supply of fire works, no friends, or oil bath and especially kite!!!I missed big time and it was 1978!! I also came to know at this time my closest friend at primary school called Selvam had died of a dog bite. Life changed slowly but kites played a huge part over my life those years. 

Mahesh Stores played a big role too in aiding my leisure hobby.

There was this one Deepavali, when I was 13 or 14, which was not celebrated in our house to my great disappointment!!

The story goes like this ; My Anna was beaten by few rowdies the day before, in our street, which then boiled to a huge fiasco and pride issue for Appa, who needed to sort out the baddies for Good. It took two days, so we missed the great day!

Sadly, no kites were flown, no fire works were lit, and especially no late night deepavali - eve trip with Appa to the Vegetarian and Non vegetarian markets shopping for the next day feast.

Amma would start possibly three in the mornings! In the midst of giving the oil bath to us, she would also start preparing the feast. We had a set meal for Deepavali and it will go like this; Idli, Dosai, Vadakari, Poori, Mutton gravy, Chicken gravy, Mutton fry, Chicken fry, Liver fry…possibly, we polished off a whole lot of Ponnusami Hotel menu those days!! Not to forget the traditional Biriyaaani amidst all this!!

College Deepavali days were very interesting too. Lots of Old monks were consumed with Anna’s and my friends( Shakeel, Hari, AVS, Suryaprakash, ) in Mannadi bars followed by late night parties in the Stanley men’s Hostel. We would also frequent the Mount road cinemas for the Deepavali releases, possibly drunk…well I meant of lots of unsupervised fun and frolicking!

Friends began visiting from medical school on Deepavali days in early 90’s and it was a big list. We lived not that far from the Hostel and that didn’t help us!!It would include, Sesh, Shakeel, Hari, Sathya, Ramesh and few others. I am not yet sure how amma managed to feed us all, those days. Well, the next few years we were sober, polite, and quite. However the booze parties were still rolling on but less kites and fire works!

There were plenty of days I would like to reminisce, however the list would go in to a novel. Mind you the blog is already!!

There was an early dawn on a Deepavali day, 15 years ago, when I was ringing Amma from a red coloured BT booth in Scunthorpe, where I was a cohabitant amongst many others, queuing to pass the PLAB. Appa had gone for good that year and Deepavali was a low key affair but only for the kids at home. I had 5 pounds coin with me and could talk or rather cry only for 5 minutes!

It is our 15^th Deepavali in this country and quite a few are fresh in the brain cells, yet! In 2002, we moved to Cheadle and amma was here with us. The impromptu gathering, on that day, possibly around 30 people, was a breather in my memory. We have had quite a few big gatherings since, at hour home, including a Garage Deepavali (2007)!!

In between, we managed a few big hall galas; Nawab (2005) and last year at Cheadle Leisure club.The memories are livid and many!

This year, likely to be low key affair; however I have decided to enjoy it as usual!!

Wish you all a very Happy Deepavali!!