Revive moments of Diwali through Camera-eye.

“Jab charon ore aankhon me khushi ke diye jalte hai.
  Har chehre pe jo muskaan jhalakta hain, woh kisi taare ki roushini se kum nahin.
  Chahe chand rooth bhi jaye, andhera fayl jaye.
  Hum apne mann ke diye jalakar aasman me fehlayenge roushini.
 Chand agar aa bhi jaye, humare roushini ki saamne use koyi pehchan bhi na paye.
  Hume andhere se kya darr hain, jab hum hi ek roushini hain”.

I’m just back from my home town after celebrating Diwali.

For this Diwali, I was in Hyderabad, the place where I belong to. In South India, the festival is called “Deepavali”. I feel there aren’t enough words to express what Diwali means to me and to all of us. Diwali comes in the month of October or November, no fixed date. Diwali falls on the day of “Amavasya”. When the moon, comes up with the idea of playing hide and seek and puts us all in darkness.  But you know what moon is fooled by everyone. No one cares for the moon on that night. The night rather seems as “pournami”. You find lights everywhere, every corner.

Darkness represents ignorance and light is a source of life i.e.; knowledge. When darkness is around, we feel like blind. We can’t see things right. Same as that when our mind is filled with evil thoughts, we can’t think what’s good for us. We can’t even think what’s right and what’s wrong. We need light in our life, which awakens our spirit and motivates us to do something right. Then positive energy flows all over like a breeze of fresh air. We think straight, do great things and we make this world a better place to live.

Deepavali festival excitement starts before deepavali comes. It’s important to keep the house very clean and pure on Deepavali. I spent cleaning the house. I decorated doors and gates with mango leaves and marigold garlands hanging down.

 

I made colorful Rangoli it added beauty to the home. There wouldn't be any home, any ritual without rangoli using riceflour and lining up with haldi and kumkum. Eight petals Lotus resembles goddess Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity and wealth.
 

Diwali is a five day festival, begins on Aswayuja Bahula chathurdashi and concludes on karthika shudda vijaya. Very few people know about that and very few celebrate all the 5 days.

Lamps are lit after sunset to welcome the goddess Lakshmi. I lit little clay lamps and placed them around the home, in verandahs, near Tulsi Devi, on the wall built around the home. It’s a belief that goddess Lakshmi brings with her enormous wealth. Little clay lamps spread light in the aura to drive away darkness or ignorance in and around. What I like most about this festival is lighting up my entire home with diyas. Our home seemed to me as a divine place. On Diwali, people of all age groups celebrate it with great fervor.
 
Serial lights hanging down on the walls of buildings look like twinkling stars. We had fun looking up at glittering sky.

It’s a tradition to exchange sweets among neighbors to make each others lives much sweeter. I may not find the best time to express my love and affection to my loved ones. Words are not enough, so I offered gifts to my near and dear ones.

I'm gonna post a  lot more about 5 day festival Diwali,  significance of each day, myths, rituals and legends associated with it. 

Bye for now !