Deepavali 2013...............
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.
And 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 later 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 during the emergency period in India
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 monster of a weather, 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 5th standard, when few days prior to Deepavali, I fell off 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. Hence, I was left on my own, with meagre supply of fire works, no friends, or oil bath and especially kite. I missed it big time and it was 1978!!I also came to know during this time that my then closest friend at primary school called Selvam had died of a dog bite. Life was changing but kites played a huge part over my life until the tenth standard.. 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 at our house. 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. Apparently he was manhandled too.It took two or so many 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 for the feast.
Deepavali day starts at 3am for Amma! 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(John, Bala, Babu, Singh...) and my own friends (Shakeel, Hari, AVS, Suryaprakash.... ) in those Mannadi bars, followed by late night parties at 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 since early 90’s and the list was big. We lived not that far from the Hostel and that didn’t help us!! ( Sesh, Shakeel, Hari, Sathya, Ramesh ). I am not yet sure how amma managed to feed us all, those days because the list also would include Anna's friends.
Well, there are plenty I would like to reminisce, however the list is big.
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 holing, queuing to pass the PLAB. Appa had gone for good that year and Deepavali was presumably a low key affair. I had 5 pound coin with me and I talked or rather cried for the next 5 minutes! Quite a few are fresh in the brain cells, yet! In 2002, we moved to Cheadle, from Stockton. The impromptu gathering, on Deepvali day, possibly with around 30 people, is still a breather in my memory. We have had quite a few big gatherings since, at hour home, including a Garage Deepavali organised by priya in 2007!! In between, we also managed a few big hall galas; Cheadle Church in 2004, Nawab in 2005, and Cheadle Leisure club in 2008. Many thanks to Bala and Chandru, in organising those Manchester Deepavalis along with me.The memories are livid and many, nanbargale! I am sure we all have massive nostalgic dips when it comes to Deepavali and Pongal.
Last year, we were in Chennai for the first time after 20 years. It was superb, wonderful and the experience was new.
Well, it is our 1st Deepavali in Singapore this year; likely to be high key affair again with three new lovely friends and their families. And I have decided to freak out , as usual!!
Wish you all a very Happy Deepavali 2013.
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