Diwali: A New Beginning

I am part of a transnational team at work. With each member belonging to different countries, we all have learnt a lot about different time zones and more importantly, about different holidays.  

Since Diwali is round the corner, my team knows that a multi-day holiday on my calendar is coming soon. However, the length of the holiday is not fixed across different parts of the country and it may vary from 1 day to 7 days (plus or minus vacation days that people often club along with the festival).

In many conversations lately, my international colleagues have mentioned interesting tit-bits of what they associate this 'Indian' festival with:

• Lights, candles, diyas and lanterns
  
• Sweets and food
• Family time

All of these are true and the popular parts of this festival. But these things, in variations, form part of most festivals across the world. I have been thinking a lot about Diwali and what each day of the festival means (to me):

• Dhanteras: the day when people traditionally buy jewelry, kitchen items and clothes, and nowadays electronics as well. Basically spending/investing money.
• Chhoti Diwali: the day before Diwali. The final day of house-cleaning (which starts weeks or months in advance before the D-day). Also the day when sweets and snacks are prepared.
• Diwali: the day when the Lord, his wife and his brother, returned to their kingdom. Their homecoming was celebrated by lighting 'deeps' or 'diyas' or lamps. Also by making-merry. Many other noteworthy decorations are- floral arrangements including garlands, colored patterns on floors called "Rangoli" and stickers- often religious. The day of prayers and partying alike. 
• Govardhan Puja: the day after Diwali. Celebrating another God, who in his childhood saved an entire village by lifting a mighty mountain on his tiny fingers. In my home, we celebrate by eating maybe "what God ate that day"- Radish (a scrumptious 'Mooli Parantha' breakfast) and Punjabi Kadhi (my favorite 'Kadhi-Chawal' lunch). Also, this day marks the Gujarati New Year ('Bestu Varas').
• Bhai Dooj: the day of Brothers and Sisters (with the word 'Bhai' literally meaning brothers). Sisters basically put an auspicious colored mark ("tilak") on brothers' foreheads and everyone eats sweets. 
• Labh Pancham: the fifth day after Diwali. From Diwali till this day, Gujarati businesses and offices are closed and people are vacationing. On this day, businesses open up, counting it as the day 1 in their Account Ledgers. 

Apart of these days that I know of, there are other days in between, each celebrated as a festival, in different parts of the country. But a major theme is of new beginnings and prosperity- be it the new purchases, house cleaning- to the point that it looks as good as new, and the New year itself. I think, this year more than ever, we all await a new beginning...  

Home Office

As oxymoron-ic as it may sound; I am setting up my Home Office. 120 days of work from home later, I have decided to have a dedicated office space. So far, I have used my bed, dining table, drawing room sofa and even my balcony garden as a makeshift office #hotdesking . Which means I have put almost all the electric sockets in my home (except those in kitchen and bathroom) to use by charging my laptop and my mobile #loadsharing (ok, sorry!)
If in movies, we try to imagine a post apocalyptic world, in reality we are hoping for a post pandemic world. Until then, #wfh seems to be a long term state and I would rather only one corner of my house reek of corporate shit.
So, I am setting up my Home Office. I have two options-

1. My old-timey computer table in my parents' room(where the monitor, CPU, keyboard, mouse and printer still reside; all wearing my mom's hand embroidered table covers). The drawer contains what 90s kids would know were called music cassettes (all adorned in dust bunnies).
2. My study desk- currently housing all things miscellaneous- a wall clock that works only when it's not hanging on a wall, a plastic flower that is also a tiny wind mill and non-functioning stationery items like dried up sketch pens and blackened erasers. 

Remember one of those cliches "I keep my personal and work life separate"😆

When Life Gives You Contests

Class 4 or 5: I had gone to another school for an inter-school computer quiz competition. In between various quizzes, there was a 'lottery' kind of thing in which all participating students were handed a card to fill in their names and drop in a bowl. That card was from the sponsors of the event and there was a question- to choose one out of three items- Speakers, Modem and one more thing. 9 year old me knew what Speakers were and had a vague idea of Modem. Plus even at that age, I knew lotteries are just chance and had no hopes whatsoever. I just ticked on Speakers and tossed in the bowl. 

The very first lottery winner in that event was me! That day I took some cool Speakers back home, along with the quiz certificate of course. My brother was amused at my 'luck' and also told me next time to really try for Modem 😛

Class 9 or 10: Listening to FM was like a major part of my day, specially when I stayed home to 'study' during pre-exam days and my parents were off to work. I think it was my favorite radio show, which had a radio contest. Some random thing- like guess that masala or vegetable or something. I told mom that I'm calling the radio station to participate- and mom said 'go ahead'. I knew that there would be like 50-100 people who call the radio station at the same time and there are close to zero chances that my call would even connect. My call did connect- and the RJ said in his cheeky voice "Hi, Wassup... what's the answer?" I was tongue-tied! All I could say was "Uhhh..." and he said "Uhhh?? That's not the right answer! 🤣🤣"  

Anyway, only a few days later- I had fully recovered from this shyness + shock and I called them again for some other contest and yes- I won two free tickets to the latest movie "36 China Town" which I took my mom to see with me. And then one more radio contest- where we won a bunch of goodies- including a CD with Kishore Kumar classics💗

So basically whenever life gives me contests- I participate, with zero ambition plus a little confidence, and it ends well🙂

P.S: I just participated in an Instagram contest where I had to upload a  1 minute video of my mom cooking her signature dish💌 There are like 800+ submissions and I have very basic video making skills and well, who knows.. 😉

Life as we know it

For a baby- 
Mummy and Papa. Maybe a grandparent or a sibling. 
A toy or two. 
Some colors- red, yellow, blue or green. 
A few favorite rhymes. 
Same thing, every-day.

For a kid- 
Parents, a couple closest relatives, neighbor kids, a teacher. 
Many toys. So many games. 
All crayons. 
Two-three cartoons loyally and the same movie over and over. 
Same things, in variations.

For a teen- 
School friends, school-bus friends, neighborhood friends, coaching classes' friends, parents on family weekends, cousins once or twice a year. 
Video games. Mobile games. Cricket/Football/Tennis/Swimming/Martial Arts.
Playing on the loop-a music video some kid saw and talked about.
One color- either black or blue or gray or pink or purple. Just one.
A new movie every week.
Something Different.

For a college goer-
College gang. Professors. Chai-wale bhaiya. Maggi wale bhaiya. Xerox wale bhaiya. 
LAN games.
Colors? 
Class bunk wali movie. LAN wali movie. 
Very Different.

For a working adult
Retiring/retired Parents. Boss. Co-workers. Employees. Carpool/Train/Cab partner. Flatmate/(s). Landlord. Dabba wala/Dhaba wala/Cook/Domestic help. Random acquaintances in XYZ country/company. Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Wife/Husband. In-Laws. Bank Manager dealing with Student Loan/Car Loan/Home Loan. Kids. Kid's teachers. Kid's friends' parents. New reporting manager. New Reportee. 
Gym/Yoga/an occasional marathon.
Colors- Of the walls; when house painting. Or of the Sky and the Sea; on a vacation.
Netflix. Prime. Hotstar. TV News Debates. 
Same or Different- a struggle to do it all.

For a retired elder    
Kids and Grandkids. Walking or exercise buddies. Some religious/spiritual little club.
Newspaper end-to-end and the daily crossword.
White and lighter shades.
Bhajans and occasional black-and-white era songs. A complete news bulletin.
A reluctance to try anything new. Or an excitement to learn everything new.

We start out with seeing the same two people (mom-dad) and the big achievement is to complete a sleep, take a few steps here & there and eat a few spoonfuls. We mostly stay indoors, with the same people and same routine.

We end up having met thousands of people and the big achievement is to complete a sleep, take a few steps here & there and eat more than a few spoonfuls. We mostly stay indoors, with same people and same routine.

Everything in between is Life as we know it. 

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Realization that the changes in the world may have changed our lives significantly, and how we are now leading it is different in so many ways. But at the core; Life is as we know it.

A Stronger City

Always: A city that never sleeps. The City of Dreams. The city that famously braves floods or even attacks one day and still steps out to go to work the next day. The Maximum City- with maximum opportunities.

The year 2020: Hotspot for pandemic. Local Trains stop. Empty roads in the morning rush hour. Financial Capital wears a deserted look.

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I had read somewhere- "Each person's memories are his or her private literature". True!
So, if I have to describe Mumbai, I need to choose from my memories-

• Pav Bhaji on Juhu Beach with family
• Ragi Dosa at Madras Cafe with friends
• Two years of MBA spent mostly by strolling around fancy Hiranandani Powai
• Three months of sales training in Malvani slums of Malad
• Morning walks in crammed roads to office
• Evening walks on the Worli Seaface
• Seeing the Lower Parel skyline driving through Dadar flower market
• Avoiding chawls while searching for apartments to rent in SoBo
• Waiting 17 hours for mom who got stuck in a train near Nala Sopara during monsoon 
• Being happily stuck in lines for darshan at Lalbaug and Siddhivinayak
• First time my parents tasted Naturals' ice-creams
• Next time when my parents visited and insisted on having Natural's ice-cream
• Watching plays at Prithvi theater, St. Andrews and NCPA with friends and colleagues
• Managing with expensive and cramped limited housing options with unfriendly flatmates
• Spending 2-3 hours on Western Expressway in the infamous traffic on Fridays
• Enjoying next 2 days of weekend with my uncle, aunt and cousin

The Maximum city has provided me with maximum experiences- both good and bad. And through these, I have grown up. Like me, millions of others have lived in and loved Mumbai and become stronger through their individual experiences. 

And although the city now is facing the worst, it too will grow up through these tough times to be better place. There may not get a magical, radical makeover of the city after the lockdown, but it definitely will build some immunity for future. I don't know about the changes in processes and policies, but its people will evolve to stronger ways of life. And with that, Mumbai will be 'a stronger city'.

Mahabharat-Twitter Edition

15 tweets capturing my take and take-a-ways from the epic

Time Travel

The world now-a-days feels like Time Travel. Not just the fact that pandemics apparently occur every 100 years or so. The many changes in our lives are now mirroring big episodes from the past. 

"First passenger train runs today..."- is this from a few hours ago; or from the year 1853?

While in 2020 I am Youtube-ing "how to bake a cake without oven"; my mom was doing just that in a pressure cooker back in 1970s. 

Twice-a-day Ramayan and Mahabharat episodes have clearly transported an entire nation to the 1987-1990 Doordarshan era.

Study on weekdays and Games on weekends. I have done this in the early 2000s. I am doing it since late March of 2020 as well. 

[Back then study was like Math, English, Hindi and Social Studies, now it is learning Spanish Language and Culture😎]

[Back then the Games were cards, scrabble, carrom and Tambola. Now, same! 😄]

Speaking of Tambola: 

Have heard on numerous occasions how mom-dad, uncles-aunts and their respective families would all know each other and spend moments together to cherish. Have also heard my parents saying that our generation doesn't have these kind of bonds; all we have is WhatsApp! 

Well, in this world of social distancing, my world is social again. Proof: for last 5 weekends , every Saturday night is spent playing Tambola, on WhatsApp, with-

1. My mom and all her siblings
2. All their children
3. My aunt's cousin
4. My cousins' in-laws
5. My sister-in-law and her siblings

Don't know what Einstein was looking for from his time machine, I got my time travel alright!!

Descent

Monotony sets in

 

Favorite Section of the Newspaper

Day 1: Glad to be home. Parents relieved.

Day 2: I take the car out again. Had started learning driving from Dad last week. From training ground to actual roads, 2nd gear to 3rd. I return and mom lays out the Yoga mat. Post breakfast, I sit with newspaper cartoons and crosswords. 

Day 3: Driving Practice continues. Back home, time for Yoga with mom. A quick Sudoku session. Garfield, funny as always. Calvin & Hobbes, not so much today. Work from Home begins. In the evening, I check my Spanish course's exam date-sheet. Serious Spanish studying begins. 

Day 4: Same as day 3. I see a new Akshay Kumar- Fortune foods advertisement. Love it! Watching on loop now.

Day 5: Much the same. 3rd to 4th gear. Braking. Turning. Yoga. Work from Home. Aprendo español. 

Day 6: Same. A pattern emerges for coming days.

Day 7: All the same. Work meetings all week have been on impact and mitigation and readiness in tough times of COVID-19 era. Stay up all night to finish Spanish assignment. All done, ready to post tomorrow.

A Week of Firsts

Day 8: First weekend arrives. No driving today. Missed Yoga too. Parents blame me, I blame assignment deadline. 

Day 9: First ever nation-wide curfew day. Cleaned my dressing table today- arranged all my cosmetics and jewels in neat lines and cute stacks. Evening session of community clapping is like a never before feeling. 

Day 10: First day without newspaper. Mom tries to cheer me up by deciding to cook different dishes every day. Her first dish- Bisi Bille Huli Anna. 

Day 11: How adorable are Jimmy Fallon's daughters!! Mom's special today- sun dried microwave baked potato chips. 8 p.m.- 21 days' national lockdown announced, starting midnight.

Day 12: First day of lockdown

1. Video chat with baby niece and yoga are now morning constants. 
2. A colleague skypes to remind me that I shouldn't be working today on account of Gudi Padwa holiday for Mumbai folks. Since the word 'holiday' has lost its meaning, I continue working.
3. Have a good lunch, my favorite vegetable Tori is in the menu today. 
4. Dinner video chat with uncle & aunt who are cooking something exotic- Beetroot Tikki  & some firangi salad! 
5. Fizzy Goblet- a pretty shoes company- suggests on Instagram to use this time to do some coloring.                         

Day 13: Watching movie Super 30. It is raining tonight. Smell of geeli mitti 💚

Day 14: Vegetable Dalia's Cutlet in breakfast. Pav Bhaji in Dinner. 

[Feel the need to really say this- I'm extremely thankful to God and trying so hard from writing anything on the real sadness that the world is in].

Day 15: First episode of Mahabharat on Doordarshan 

[Also, cannot stop thinking of millions across the globe who are affected. Never lived in a constant fear. Please God, help]. 

Losing my nerves

Day 16: I text 15 of my friends and colleagues: 'hi' and 'hope you are safe'. All of them are. They ask me the same. My reply, same. Sudden bouts of "how-are-you", check.

Day 17: I see a "to-be-bride" wish-list/meme and send it to 3 friends captioning "This is so me". Turns out I texted to 2 of my friends and to my mom. #textfail, check.

My mom is happy that my mind is on "the right track". Oops🙈

Day 18: Have no memory of the day...

Day 19: Navratri's Ashtami a.k.a. Kanjak, a.k.a. Poori-Chole-Halwa day. Had multiple halwa servings throughout the day!! Binge eating, check.

Day 20: 

1. Morning- I am upset at my mom for not waking me up on time (although I never wake up on time and mock her for treating me like a school kid who needs to be woken up on time)
2. In between- Work From Home
3. Night- Mom catches a tear in my eye as I see Bharat (in a scene where Bharat doesn't know that Ram has been ordered exile) #RamayanOnDD
4. Later that night- I am completely mad that Nattu Kaka and Bagha are protesting against poor Jethalal and now stupid reporter Anarkali is running a smear campaign against Jetha (completely forgetting that Jethalal's problematic life is the very premise of Tarak Mehta ka Oolta Chasma)
5. Late late night- I find out that my flatmates back in Mumbai are in even tougher situation, now that the building has reported a patient and entire society there is under quarantine. 

This I guess was my body reacting to the mental toll of global tragedies, confinement and uncertainty that I had been suppressing for many weeks now. 

This is not only about the last 20 days. For me, it all started in January, when my office canceled a work trip because our China colleagues couldn't travel due to a "flu" and we were advised to "rethink our travel plans", and when in February our European bosses started talking of business contingency plans; also when towards the start of March my parents said if I could stay back after the Holi long weekend to ultimately when I boarded that train back home, praying all through the 6 hours of that journey that I don't get infected. 

My many years of wish 'to be with my parents and work from home' had come true, and that was what gave me a sense of happiness; masking the sadness- precisely the reason for this mental descent. 

Prayers

Happy New Year!

I am not an atheist, nor am I a pious lady. Just a simple believe-in-God kind. Someone who tries to pray every morning, but misses more often than should. It is not a part-of-life like it is for my parents.

But my praying habits are not like those who mentioned in the Hindi doha "dukh mein sumiran sab karein, sukh mein kare na koy.." [everyone remembers God in sorrow, no one thinks of him in times of joy]. My prayers have been in all times- sad/happy/neutral.

Some in family pray first thing in the morning, some twice a day, others during the day (in between a commute or in the waiting rooms with praying beads), some by scribbling Lord's name in notebooks and a few towards the end of the day before lying down for sleep. Schools had morning assemblies, which means that for 12 years, I prayed every morning. Most of it was just singing, but it was consistent. A routine.

Now my prayers are less songs/hymns/mantras and more words. Words, that change with time, and which are either a request or gratitude for a request fulfilled. Words about wordly affairs like work, visa, marriage, travel etc. Occasionally about bestowing 'sadbuddhi' (loose translation=good brains) to my flatmates :P (funny but earnest request).

Elders say that praying leads to feeling positive. Never prayed so fervently to feel much but anytime I see my baby niece folding hands and flashing all of her 8 teeth when someone says 'jai jai', there is a sudden wave of positive that flows all across me. I admit I'm drawn to a gurudwara for the halwa (prasad) & to a church for the architecture and whenever I go to mandirs, jumping up to ring the bells draws maximum of my focus. But a quiet chat with God, after dressing up in the morning, is very concentrated amount of feel-good I feel.

And now, since my brain is not able to end this post in any other way, here's a true story-
Class I, age 6: my teacher had asked me if I knew what my name means. My reply was that Vinti means prayer to God!