Last Day of Diwali

Today is the last day of Diwali. It is Bhau Bhij, the day when entire generations of our family gathered under one roof. There were as many aartis as there were generations. Men were honored by their sisters. What they got was diyas in their face, what the sisters got was envelopes stuffed with money. Well, we also bought them socks or ties, just so that the exchange was fair. The loot was then divided over all cousins and I remember feeling rather cheated when all that came my way was a measly Rs. 50. In those days, it was about US$2.50. But the excitement, the teasing, the laughter and gaiety was all priceless.

I haven't celebrated Bhau Bhij for over a decade now. I have also heard that the celebrations in our extended family are rather low key now. Several of the oldest generation that held the family together, in particular my grandmother, are no more. Most of my generation are dispersed all over India and the globe. Our children do not know each other and that is truly very sad. I often think of putting together a mailing list for cousins on each side of the family...maybe one of these days, I will get down to actually doing it.

Today was exhausting to say the least. My friend and I made chavde, mountains of murukku, and more roasted chivda. Then we raced to the annual Diwali function of the Boulder Balvihar that we had found out about just yesterday. The children were going to perform short skits from Mahabharata, followed by a Lakshmi Puja, where each child would perform their own puja. Medha does not attend the Boulder Balvihar but she was invited to join in, nevertheless. We plucked mums from our flower bed, put together all the samagri, scrounged for a picture of Goddess Lakshmi, and made it just in time.



The evening started with the chanting of Aum, which set the mood for the evening. The children's program was fabulous. There were some individual performances, too: a Bharat Natyam dance and a voice and violin recital of Humko Manki Shakti Dena. The talent on display was very inspiring.

After this each child set up their own little puja with their family sitting around them to assist them. "Vivek Uncle" led the puja, reciting the Lakshmi Ashtotram and explaining each step of the puja and we followed, reading and chanting from the document that had been sent by email earlier. Before this, I didn't know how to perform a Lakshmi Puja and I am sharing that document to help those of you who were as clueless as I was. (Some of the formatting was lost when I saved it as a Google document and I apologize for that.) The overall experience was very uplifting.

A special thanks to Latha Narasimhan for telling me about the Lakshmi Ashtotram and encouraging me to find out more!

Diwali of 2007 is over! It was a very special, busy and fun-filled Diwali. My husband is very relieved. No more of this kind of food till next year, right? Deep fried and ghee-laden? Yes, I agree. No more. But we know - you and I - that there will always be food on the mind!

The Third Day of Diwali

Today is the third day of Diwali. It is also Laxmi Pujan. Laxmi, also written Lakshmi, is the Goddess of Wealth. In our family, it was mostly those with businesses who did Laxmi Pujan. Invariably, it meant a trek to my great-uncle's studio near Chowpatty Beach (in Bombay), with each one of us decked up in our new Diwali finery. As kids we didn't really care about the Puja. We were more interested in the Cadbury's Dairy Milk bar that Anna-mama would give every one of us. It was a long thin bar, almost like a single serving that was not cut into squares. After that, we'd beg to be taken to the beach, not to swim but to eat bhel. Our stomachs were like insatiable pits on that day because as soon as we got back, we'd plead for some ice-cream from the vendor down the street. I don't remember a thing about the puja!

Later on I found out that this was called Chopda Puja in Gujarati. Chopda means books and, quite literally, the large journals that were the Books of Accounts were worshipped. After we started our own business, I remember doing a brief aarti of our computers - they were our lifeline in every way and also stored our Books of Accounts!

We didn't do any puja today. I didn't feel the need to either because I am always grateful for every form of wealth that comes my way. I am grateful every day. We did light some diyas and I made kaccha chivda...

and, yes! More nankatai! It's Recipe #2, baby! I am on the top of the world!