Crap

what with diwali around the corner, i’m posting this past-creation of mine. its long, but if you consider that it was me who put it up, me obviously expects you to read it. cheero.

God doesn’t exist. Well, maybe he does, but definitely not in the pujas we do, not in the festivals we celebrate, not in the food we eat, and definitely not in the skies above us.
Diwali. Apparently, Vishnu took the form of Ram, got married, lost his wife to Ravana, killed him, won her back and on completing a stipulated exile in the same period, came back to Ayodhya, the capital city of his kingdom. This is a tale i have heard, as an explanation to why we celebrate diwali: Ram’s victorious return to Ayodhya after 14 years. This may not be the correct one, i may have heard the wrong story…but the fact remains that all our festivals are deeply entwined with past occurances, that have a lot to do with the victory of good over evil, which just has to take place with the intervention of God.
Where am i going here? I am getting to the bush, but let me beat around it a bit…please, its fun.
One can not deny that everything has a reason. Our festivals do. Pujas do – they’re supposed to make god listen. Pens do – they write. Bananas do – they fill your tummy. Banana peels do – especially if u wannah take some revenge. Money has a reason – it makes the world go round. 9to5 Jobs do – they get you the money. Exams probably don’t. Clocks do – they tell time.
Here’s the real reason behind diwali. We wash our homes. We stop fighting. We dress nice. We talk nice. We visit our neighbours. They visit us. So we keep our house clean. We call our relatives up. We send sms’s to the ones we don’t wanna call up, but, we send sms’s.
Imagine if you had to do any of these in the middle of May. No way. So, Whoever conceived the idea of celebrating diwali was a classy salesman. He not only made you do all of the above, but made you FEEL GOOD all the same. Smooth.
Yes, there also remains the fact that, the idea of diwali was not made by one man, it has a genuine historical importance to it . Ram was coming back to Ayodhya. Ayodhyaites cleaned their homes, cleaned the city for his arrival. They lit candles and showered rose petals as an expression of affection. They shared sweets and celebrated in joy. After all, Ravana was dead, Ram was back home, and Seeta was too. And they got a lot of monkeys along! Definitely celebration time. 5000 years ago. Why today?
Have we rid our society of any evil, have we got any cause to celebrate collectively as a nation – rich and not so rich alike, entrepreneur and farmer alike, citizen and soldier alike,?
But that is althemore why we need to celebrate diwali (one may argue) : to bring us all together and make us feel good. After all, during diwali, we all get bonuses and get richer, the sensex jumps up, foreigners come to india and praise it. Hence we should celebrate Diwali, Eid, Holi, Christmas everyday! …..Sad mentality. Present sucks. So lets celebrate a glorious past, and make the present bearable.
The festivals might have started for whatever reason (maybe Ram did exist, maybe that’s why diwali began), but we must focus on what relevance they have for today. If the festival must remain, the reasons for celebration must change. Let’s take an example. Focus on the brackets. You buy a 1-bhk-flat (Festival) because you need a place to LIVE (Original Reason). You take up a new job and your company gives you a new 3-bhk-flat. You shift residences. You don’t want to sell the old flat (If Festival must remain). So you use it as a Storage Place (New Reason). Simple. Read it one more time.
Yes, diwali began as a celebration for Ram, but today it must stand for social unity, togetherness, and a celebration of being a part of a potentially great (not great now, not even close) nation. Well (one may say), that is exactly why i celebrate diwali. In defense, let me relate a story. Very real. This is what i observed on diwali day myself.
We cleaned our home and made it a point to bury any fight before it could escalate. We bought sweets, lit diyas and visited neighbours. They came over, and it was all beautiful. Oh, i’m forgetting the real diwali altogether – crackers! Yeah, everyone burst crackers. Fountains and chakris, and big, long, noisy ladis. And bombs. And rockets. Awesome. Once it got over, everyone went back home. And while i stood in my balcony, i could see the mess that the crackers left behind, the smoke that had begun to settle all over. And through it, i saw the building watchman. Our diwali was over. His had begun. He moved among all the ‘fuljhadi’ boxes that we had left behind, and found one unused. He found a candle, and lit the fuljhadi. And moved it around till it died out. Happy Diwali.
For all the noise, for all the money we spent, we forgot why we were celebrating. We were expressing our joy. What joy did the watchman have? The blind had a diwali, and so did the deaf and the mute. Diwali was for the destitute…it is they who really celebrate the joy of existence. In its true essence. Expression of joy is not how loud we are, or how flashy. The sutli bomb has every kid on the block scurrying for cover. The ladi accompanies the ritual of hands-on-ears. The watchman. You should’ve seen his joy when i went down with a few more fuljhadis in my hand for him. It wasn’t the expression, it was the intention. It wasn’t the crackers that made him smile, it was me that made him smile.
I have no qualms with celebration. Celebration is a must. But the manner needs to change. What do we gain from all this noise? From all this smoke? Is this how you would want to invite Ram to your house? Or would a simple diya and a smile on your face be enough? It would.
God does exist. In our actions.
We can make sound. It feels nice. But to a limit. Sound and Noise. Life and Death. There is always a fine line.
We can make sound. We can sing.
We can illuminate. We can laugh.
We can celebrate. With joy.
Before i leave you, spare a thought for the kids that make these crackers. Happy diwali once again.

originally, october 22, 2006