SELF-LOVE
Diwali — Finding The Light Within
Be the change you want to see in the world
by Neha Sonney
This story was originally published in Beyond The Boundaries magazine in October 2020.
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The air thickens with new big-budget movies, a hint of cool weather, and childhood memories of new dresses, money from aunts and uncles, the smell of warm Kesar and cardamom-scented homemade gulab jamuns, gajar ka halwa, and boxes of nuts and sweets. The feeling is unexplainable, irreplaceable. Yes, it’s that time of the year again, time for Diwali — The festival of lights.
My favorite Diwali ritual was lighting up earthen diyas outside the main door of our ground floor house in Bahrain. I always had to be careful not to burn my new clothes or my scarf. There was something so special about lighting diyas (lamps) both inside and outside our homes. According to mythology, this was how the Kingdom of Ayodhya celebrated the return of their king, Lord Ram, after he completed a 14-year exile in the jungles. It was a celebration of the victory of light over darkness and good over evil.
Movies and books have told stories with these very themes over and over again. Tales of victories, overcoming struggles and…
