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!!