Much Ado About Nothing

Our little one, Rishi, brought so much excitement and enthusiasm in to this year’s Diwali, it reminded me of my childhood Diwalis where unbridled excitement about the impending bursting of crackers & lighting of fireworks would enter my system around 4 AM the morning of Diwali.  Oh, the joy of being the first on the street celebrating Diwali, the pride in lighting a fire-cracker held in your hand, tossing it to see burst mid-air.

Come evening, we would be witness to the misplaced bravado of our older cousins and friends launching ‘rockets’ by hand.  The ‘victims’ of these rockets would usually be the richer neighbors with the bigger houses – all in good spirit, mind you.  And, how innovative is the child’s mind that thinks of embeding a fire-cracker in freshly laid cow dung!?

And, the finale would be this family with a lot more cash to burn than you bursting a 10K ‘sara’ (Kannada word meaning string); the cacaphony lasting a good 20 minutes with the whole street counting down the end of Diwali.

Here are some pics from Rishi’s first Diwali.  No fireworks for him, just yet.