Happy Diwali

As the cliche goes, Diwali is a festival of lights. Unfortunately, I can not think of more original and beautiful statement describing it, which can do justice to this festival. Modern day Diwali, however, has far exceeded this cliche. Now, it means many things: deafening noises from all sorts of crackers, sky adoring colorful rockets bursting now and then in the sky or inside someone else house, etc. But one thing that makes Diwali truly special than any other festival is the way it is celebrated by all people- it gives a sense of unity and involvement to the billions of people in India. It demarcates how each and every individual is connected- by his happiness, suffering, and celebration- to the broad network of humanity. How each human is nothing but an extension of the other; how the entire fabric of humanity, with all its beautiful varied diversity, is made of a single thread of love that searches connectivity in this lonely world.

This festival has a connected historical reason to it as any other Hindu festival, for why it is celebrated by all the people in such an exhilaration. According to it, in this day, long ago, Sri Ramchandra, the most beloved Hindu King, came back with his wife and brother to his Kingdom, Ayodhya, after spending 14 years in exile. And all the citizens were so happy on the return of their beloved King that they joyously started to lighten their houses with ‘diyas’, and celebrated this occasion by giving sweets to each other and bursting crackers.

The modern variation of Diwali has evolved only to retain the later eliminating the former two in the process. After all, in the world of survival of the fittest, how could a festival have escaped some form of adaptation or the other to make it relevant for our smartphone generation. Moreover, the diyas have been conveniently replaced by colorful electric lights, not deceiving the trite definition of Diwali (the festival of lights).

But, it should not be mistaken that the festival is only celebrated by Hindus, for it would diminish the beauty of the festival and the greatness of the secular nation it is celebrated in. It has transcended all religious divisions and has become a celebration of the soul and consciousness of an awakened nation. It has become a festival of the entire nation; it is a celebration of the universality of human nature with all its perfections and imperfections that make life worthwhile to live and enjoy. It has shed its historical reason long back, and, in contemporary India, it is now celebrated for all rightful reasons of unity and integrity of the nation.

Happy Diwali friends…