Diwali was Never So Bright-A New Shade of Goodness

Since centuries we Indians do celebrate our festivals with a lot of joy and happiness. Different festivals have different shades of beliefs and feelings. Somehow we are a little bit more connected with our culture. In fact, that’s the beauty of every festival. Diwali is considered as one of the widely celebrated festivals in India. There are some mythological beliefs behind this celebration. It’s a festival of light and brightness. It is believed that, we can destroy our inner darkness and move towards the goodness of life. Today I am going to share one of my experiences on Diwali and I will also love to share the lesson I learnt on that day.

Years ago when I was in standard 7th, I used to live with my mom, dad and little sister. We were a small and happy family. Our parents were taking care of our every wish. So, we actually never demanded for anything. All our needs or wishes were getting fulfilled without even asking. I must say, those childhood days were the golden days of my life. There was a lady who was working as our maid and her name was Shanti. She was a very nice person and she worked at our place for 10 long years. I can say, she was just like a member of our family. Sometimes she was bringing her daughter to work. Her daughter was about my age, but she was addressing me “Didi (elder sister)” all the time. Her name was Gudiya. She was not working for us, but she was coming with her mom most of the time and used to wait for her to finish her works. I don’t know why but I never liked her much. I even never liked the way she was always staring at me and my stuff. But, I never expressed these feelings of mine in front of anyone.

It was the day before Diwali, when Shanti was all occupied to finish our works quickly. That day her daughter did not come with her. Suddenly, my mom rushed to my room and said, “I am so sorry. Yesterday, I got new clothes for everyone including Shanti and also bought gifts. Don’t know how I forgot about her daughter.” I asked mom, “Why don’t you go today for buying something for her. Else, we can even skip her. I mean, she does not work for us and why we will buy clothes and gifts for her daughter! We are including Shanti and that’s enough.” My mom took a deep breath and then said, “Alright beta (kid). Why don’t you look for some new clothes of yours those you purchased last week. You have got 7–8 new clothes. Pick one from those and let’s give it to her.”

I looked at my mom with a strange look and told, “Okay, I will check.” Then she left. I went for checking my wardrobe and picked the first dress and then thought, “No, I am not gonna give this. I like this colour a lot.” Then hold another and thought, “Omg! This one is new. How can I donate this without wearing it once?” It took me 2 hours to decide which dress I want to give Gudiya and finally I picked one. It was not new and I rejected that dress because of compromised quality after several washes. Then, I gave that one to my mom and said, “You can give this to her daughter.” Without stretching that discussion further, my mom took that dress from me and left silently.

The next day early morning we all started our preparations. We all decorated the house with flowers and fancy lights. Dad bought crackers for us before 2 days. All the gifts were wrapped properly and a packet of sweets was placed over each gift. Mom did the puja (worship) and offered prasad (offering to God at the time of worship) to all. After that we all went to our society’s community hall for a small gettogether to exchange our gifts and sweets. After 1 hour we came back to our home. Shanti also came with her daughter as my mom called her. On Diwali, Shanti got a day off from her work, but mom called her to give those gifts we packed for them. My mom handed over few packets to Shanti and wished her “Happy Diwali”. She instructed me to give two packets to Gudiya and with so much hesitation I stepped forward to do as my mom said. Gudiya was really happy and said, “Thank you didi.” Then she asked, “Can I open this gift now?” Mom said, “Of course beta.” Then she opened the packet and looked at me with tearful eyes. I was unable to understand what just happened and looked at my mom out of surprise. When I looked at the dress carefully I noticed, it was not the same dress I gave to my mom for Gudiya. It was the dress that was purchased by my dad for me as a Diwali gift. I was shocked and thought, “How can this dress go to Gudiya? Was our packets got exchanged!” There were so many questions in my mind, but I was unable to ask these to my mom. Gudiya was really happy that day, she thanked me and left with her mom.

After a silence of 2–3 hours, I finally gathered my courage to ask my mom about all that happened. I went to her and stood there without saying anything. Mom knew very well what was going inside my mind and with a little smile asked me, “ Do you want to ask something beta? Go on. Why are you hesitating?” I asked, “I gave you one of my old dresses to give Gudiya. How my new dress went to her?” She replied, “The day when we bought this dress for you, we left it unpacked on the sofa. Gudiya came and was staring at that dress for a long time and when her mother arrived, she asked her to buy the same dress. Shanti told she can’t afford that dress. Gudiya was in tears, but somehow she managed to control her tears. I noticed everything from the kitchen. When we went to purchase gifts for everyone including family, friends and neighbours, do you really think that I forgot to buy something for Gudiya? I skipped her purposefully and asked you to check yours. I was expecting without any hesitation you would love to share yours. But, you went for searching the lowest priced dress that you don’t want to wear. That was so mean. Then I deliberately exchanged your dress with hers. Did you see, how happy was she on receiving that gift she was wishing for? Did you see the tears of happiness in her eyes?”

I was speechless and asked my mom, “Then no gifts for me this Diwali!” Mumma laughed and said, “How can I let my dearest daughter be sad on the day of the festival. Go to my room and grab your gift.” I jumped with joy and thanked my mom then rushed to mom’s room to collect my gift. That was the happiest Diwali I have celebrated till now.

“Maa to maa hoti hai (My mom is after all a mother) ”- How could my mom let Gudiya be sad for a dress! How could my mom let Shanti be sad for not fulfilling her daughter’s wish! How my mother could let me grow with this mean mentality! How she could let me be sad for not getting any gifts! She played her role perfectly to do what is right. We all know a mother is the first teacher of a child. Instead, I would like to say, mothers are the best teachers we can ever get. Our mothers keep on giving us different beautiful lessons of life. It does not matter what educational qualification we get, the values we receive from our mothers is always priceless.

To find our happiness within others- Isn’t this a shade of goodness that we expect from our festival!

Thanks for reading. 😊