On Nov 13, 2020, at 10:38 AM, Deepak Loomba <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

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Colleagues,
I thought I give you a breather from trumping Trump, pouncing Pence, bobbing Biden, catty Kamala, psyched out psychology.

I wish you a prosperous Diwali.

Tomorrow is India's major festival of lights called Diwali. Being an Indian it is both my honour & pleasure to introduce & acquaint you all to the free & plural India.

Though there is a background story about Diwali (which is the real cause/reason of celebrating Diwali, which can be learnt on the quoted wikipedia link. 
But here are many real life, lesser known, fun & practical facts that might surprise you.

All houses are cleaned to every nook and corners up to a day before Diwali.
4-5 days before Diwali (not this year owing to COVID) everyone's visiting relatives, friends, customers & clients, investors, carrying gifts.
Two days before Diwali is Dhanteras - a day most Indian families go out traditionally to buy an object of metal. The prosperous buy Gold jewellery, less prosperous buy a utensil poor would buy steel spoons - but each with equal vigour within his means. Its a tradition & a way to force save money in gold & precious metal. Just to give you an understanding of the scales of India - on Dhanteras (2 days before Diwali) 30-40 Tons of gold was bought by Indians on one single day. Silver sales are three to four times on this day and Stainless Steel utensil & cutlery Sales are 300-400 times on this day. It is a mode for Indians to save something for future.

Diwali is generally considered to be victory of good over evil and oil lamps are traditionally lit. Though we all hang Christmas Lights on our Balconies and inside houses, but lighting the traditional oil lamp at least a few of them is followed as a strict tradition.

Diwali is also considered as the festival of prosperity. It is occurs always in Oct. - Dec. in concurrence to a specific Indian calendar, of the 300 calendars that exist in India.
So most business/offices open on Diwali morning. The Chief guests are invariably accounts head & proprietor/owner, because the books of accounts are on this day every year baptised (nearest analogue) and Lakshmi, the Goddess of Riches is prayed to to bless the books of accounts. Since all businesses maintain accounts on computers, they take a printout, bind it and pray using it many others carry small symbolic cash books, especially for the occasion. Almost all business & families in north India would buy a silver coin. All businesses wrap up praying with books of accounts to Lakshmi by noon. After which families go out for shopping as Diwali days are considered auspicious for purchasing (so currently we are having Flipkart & Amazon Bonanza Online sales going on:-).

There is special food (we, Punjabis invariably mustard leaves' puree with cornflour pancakes), new clothes, lots of sweets. Evenings are spent organizing a family prayer followed by the most exciting for kids. A session of bursting crackers and bombs and bengal-fires, sparkles, rockets. Though Delhi has banned cracker owing to pollution, but in my childhood we would start purchase 7 days in advance, not to let dad feel that is is overdone (so buy a little daily). We would travel to special areas & markets where some special super bombs (which would shake the beat of heart, pretty much like a hand grenade) were made to make purchases. Sept. month pocket money invariably would be saved to max, to spent additionally and beyond the monetary ration given by parents to burn off in crackers on Diwali. Crackers would be burnt for 1-2 hours at a stretch. Dogs on Diwali evening would always be difficult to find as they hide under beds & sofas. The sounds in cities with close buildings are defeaning. Bursting of crackers stops only by midnight.

In childhood, all of us would immensely enjoy, from the core of our hearts, spending wee hours searching for unexploded crackers & enjoy bursting them.

Day after Diwali is Vishwakarma Day. Vishwakarma was a an ancient talented architect/constructor. It is a holiday & is celebrated as labour day. On this day all manufacturers go to factory for a while to baptise the equipment - from expensive semiconductor equipment to a hammer, who every uses whatsoever tools - does a prayer to his tool that it works and provides prosperity and food for the family. So prayer by financers/accountants of books of accounts precedes Diwali celebration tools follow. It is important to mention that these are traditions of north India. These traditions of celebrating Diwali change every few hundred kilometers, as language, food & aparrel change in India. In north India for some funny unknown reason all 7 days preceding Diwali, gambling on playing card games popularly called 'Flash' (restricted to adults) among family & friends is very common (though some families deride it). Alcohol consumption (in North India) too goes up preceding Diwali. But the Diwali day is strictly kept free of alcohol.

Religious ceremonies are very subjective to families and are not uniform. As an example - in my family - My wife Harsh (an artist Painter and Senior Research Fellow to Govt. of India) and my Son (a freshly, just-minted Mechatronics Engineer) are agnosts, while I am an atheist. So we have no prayers. But we enjoy doing traditions (except praying) without thinking of their reasonableness or rationality. I firmly believe that a life spent strictly by reason is an unreasonable life :-).

Diwali is pan-religious festival. All children buy and burn crackers exchange gifts irrespective of them being Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jewish or Zorastarians. Quite like we in our family buy Christmas tree and decorate it, cook great food and dine together irrespective of being Christians or not.

I desire to wish you all a Happy & prosperous Diwali once again.
Yes, ideal Diwali wishes are "Wishing you prosperity". Here is a card our family has made for this interesting friendship circle I have build thanks to Gregg!

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