Like every year, this year too, Diwali came. A festival of lights, a celebration for return of Lord Rama after 14 years from his exile. And there are many other events that comes in the entourage of Diwali, which makes it the most celebratory week of the year. Even Shahrukh Khan releases his film in this week only. But it is neither Shahrukh's films nor return of Rama, that make us excited, it is our family.
People who are often very far, gather at some place at this time to celebrate the reunion. We exchange nostalgic moments, reconnect with our loved ones and are happy about it. There are crackers and sweets, and classical "56 bhog". Such is the fervour of this festival. However this year, I didn't go.
And so "Narak Chaturdashi" came, and in truer sense, I was in hell. I had no one to talk to, and all usual excitement turned to the doubts of self existence and purpose of my being. This was my first Diwali, when I was really alone. I did not know what to do, so I ate ParleG and slept.
Soon I will wake up, and just like an electron in outer most state of an atom, my sheer excitement will ooze out. Though in meantime, I will give my brief introduction so that a proper context can be made about me and settings of future two days. I'm Abhay Singhal *(not my real name), and am a budding artist *(not my real job), and I love nothing. *(actually lot of things). Wink! Wink! Wink!
This story is not about me, or about nostalgic memoirs of Diwali, it is about how Diwali is. This is about my two days as journalist in the city of Hyderabad. As for resources, I had a pulsar bike, with Rs 400 allocated to fuel budget, Rs 600 for food. I had no camera and only netbook to write notes. I therefore, present a very narrow version of how Diwali was in Hyderabad, and I follow Paul Erods's approach to name titles of my experiences.
After I left Inorbit mall, I was sort of lost, and decided that my next destination will be based on some absurd decision. So I decided to follow big and shiny cars, I didn't care where I was headed, but I knew these shiny car people might be going into some place interesting. And thereby, I came to Jubilee Hills, and to my surprise there was party or some sort of societal Diwali union there. I knew that I had to crash this baby, so I parked and lifted up confidence mask, and ask guard for entrance. He happily forwarded me to entrance and there I was. Ladies were chatting, high school kids were taking selfies, men were sitting on table, discussing and there was a loud roar. It turned out, that there was open theater, showcasing a Telugu movie featuring Nagarjuna and a funny man(who comes in every Telugu movie), I guess. Turns out that, it was reunion of locals of Hyderabad, and they all knew Telugu. So all of their discussions, jokes and other things were in Telugu. Though I could not understand it a bit, I could find a bit of familiarity in this group. I greeted Happy Diwali to many people and especially girls, it was fun. I guess, I could see a chance of establishing a connection there. So I laughed with them, not because I understood why, but I understood that it was right moment to. There was free food there too, but due to my constraints, I could not eat, not even Creamstone. I browsed the whole place, and there was hotel where men were drinking with family *(I saw no kids with them), women were very aesthetically dressed *(16 shringaar of Indian woman) and younger people like me were sitting on couches, chilling out. It was just like the expectation I had from my hometown people, though there can be some cultural differences. But I was happy there. It proves that there are some pattens of life which are similar throughout diverse geography of the World, and we should unite under these patterns and cherish the other differences simultaneously. From this, I had a strange urge to try on lungi at my workplace, which I will try out sometime in future. With this my first day was effectively over.
# On Nature of Celebration
Every Diwali, my father gives me a special task, to write a good greeting, which he can send to family and his business colleagues. And every year, I thought that this was boring work, but this time, when I was alone, I wanted to do this very badly. So what do you think, when you write a greeting. You explore the space of specified event, and from that space you pick and connect unusual dots, and make a good greeting. That is also secret to creativity and good advertisement. And every year, I kept thinking about lights, happiness and family, and somehow make a greeting out of it. Some of these greetings are:
So with this, I end my lengthy account, and I tried my best to put the facts as I saw, but still I can be wrong. My Diwali totally sucked, but I guess, I also got something from this. So, even in dire situations, life can give you opportunity to make something interesting. I guess, I miss my family and friends, and with this story I can relinquish some of their disappointment towards me.
-- Ronak Kogta *(My real name) Wink! Wink!
People who are often very far, gather at some place at this time to celebrate the reunion. We exchange nostalgic moments, reconnect with our loved ones and are happy about it. There are crackers and sweets, and classical "56 bhog". Such is the fervour of this festival. However this year, I didn't go.
And so "Narak Chaturdashi" came, and in truer sense, I was in hell. I had no one to talk to, and all usual excitement turned to the doubts of self existence and purpose of my being. This was my first Diwali, when I was really alone. I did not know what to do, so I ate ParleG and slept.
Soon I will wake up, and just like an electron in outer most state of an atom, my sheer excitement will ooze out. Though in meantime, I will give my brief introduction so that a proper context can be made about me and settings of future two days. I'm Abhay Singhal *(not my real name), and am a budding artist *(not my real job), and I love nothing. *(actually lot of things). Wink! Wink! Wink!
This story is not about me, or about nostalgic memoirs of Diwali, it is about how Diwali is. This is about my two days as journalist in the city of Hyderabad. As for resources, I had a pulsar bike, with Rs 400 allocated to fuel budget, Rs 600 for food. I had no camera and only netbook to write notes. I therefore, present a very narrow version of how Diwali was in Hyderabad, and I follow Paul Erods's approach to name titles of my experiences.
# On Individual Reactions to Diwali
Prior to my first day, I observed many of my friends leaving for their hometown, and their excitement towards the event was palpable. Some wanted to have old reminiscences with friends, some were excited for home food and sweets, and others had miscellaneous reasons, but these were people who were going out of the city, although we can say that these motives are general, and applicable in the realm of Hyderabad only. So I first decided to go to a temple nearby, which was located in heart of high-tech city. Usually, on festival days, it is completely full, but this day, I found only few people around. Next, I went to popular restaurants like Delhi 39, 13 Dhaba etc., which were closed. My next turn took me to Inorbit mall, where also I found many shops closed too. I guess these patterns are obvious because Hyderabad has lot of IT companies, so India's best talent pool here, but holidays mean holiday for both people and establishments here. So because of that reason, a barren and lonesome environment is created, which can reinforce the negative feelings, because Diwali is supposed to attract not alienate. Although I found many people hanging around Cinemax. I bet Mr. Shahrukh will be happy to hear this fact. I wanted to watch Annabelle, but I was tied up in this project. In my observations around mall's food arena, I could find only couples, and loner guys like me were few, signifying the importance of companionship in season of Diwali. And if you are alone, then no body out there is noticing you, which is bad in a way, because if you think you can make friends, then the chance is negligible. With my prior experiences, I noticed that Diwali is much more than light and crackers, it is about connectedness. If you can find any connection, you can be happy. I on other hand, decided to not make any connections in the mall, and decided to leave.
# On Societal underpinnings of Diwali
# On Societal underpinnings of Diwali
After I left Inorbit mall, I was sort of lost, and decided that my next destination will be based on some absurd decision. So I decided to follow big and shiny cars, I didn't care where I was headed, but I knew these shiny car people might be going into some place interesting. And thereby, I came to Jubilee Hills, and to my surprise there was party or some sort of societal Diwali union there. I knew that I had to crash this baby, so I parked and lifted up confidence mask, and ask guard for entrance. He happily forwarded me to entrance and there I was. Ladies were chatting, high school kids were taking selfies, men were sitting on table, discussing and there was a loud roar. It turned out, that there was open theater, showcasing a Telugu movie featuring Nagarjuna and a funny man(who comes in every Telugu movie), I guess. Turns out that, it was reunion of locals of Hyderabad, and they all knew Telugu. So all of their discussions, jokes and other things were in Telugu. Though I could not understand it a bit, I could find a bit of familiarity in this group. I greeted Happy Diwali to many people and especially girls, it was fun. I guess, I could see a chance of establishing a connection there. So I laughed with them, not because I understood why, but I understood that it was right moment to. There was free food there too, but due to my constraints, I could not eat, not even Creamstone. I browsed the whole place, and there was hotel where men were drinking with family *(I saw no kids with them), women were very aesthetically dressed *(16 shringaar of Indian woman) and younger people like me were sitting on couches, chilling out. It was just like the expectation I had from my hometown people, though there can be some cultural differences. But I was happy there. It proves that there are some pattens of life which are similar throughout diverse geography of the World, and we should unite under these patterns and cherish the other differences simultaneously. From this, I had a strange urge to try on lungi at my workplace, which I will try out sometime in future. With this my first day was effectively over.
# On Nature of Celebration
Every Diwali, my father gives me a special task, to write a good greeting, which he can send to family and his business colleagues. And every year, I thought that this was boring work, but this time, when I was alone, I wanted to do this very badly. So what do you think, when you write a greeting. You explore the space of specified event, and from that space you pick and connect unusual dots, and make a good greeting. That is also secret to creativity and good advertisement. And every year, I kept thinking about lights, happiness and family, and somehow make a greeting out of it. Some of these greetings are:
Lights were never so appealing;
Sweets were never so amazing;
And family was never so happeneing;
This Diwali brings the best, and may it fill your home with greatest joys.
diyo ki batti, mein ghee ka sanchar
laye ek raushni, jisse prajwalit ho aapka pariwar
raushni aur khushiya, aapko mile aprampaar
ye hi hai hamara aabhar, hamara satkaar
But this time, I was lonely, which was the space I never experienced before, and therefore I wanted to discover something original from the space of loneliness to create a good greeting.
I started my travel at 4 in the evening, and I knew that today I will not find any societal gatherings, so I just browsed 100 kms into city of Hyderabad in the localities of Jubilee Hills, Banajra Hills, Bhagyanagar, Punjagutta, Yousufguda, Mehndipatnatm, Hi-tech city etc. I went to Taj, Novotell, GVK One, Hard Rock Cafe, and much more.
In my journey, I found that every shop had people gathered around it, either preparing for pooja or they were done with it. The kids were ready to fire crackers, and I could see electronic lights, candles, trendy diye and lot of mitti deepaks. This day, when I only travelled, could see the happiness on the face of each kid, and shop owners and their family, but it became very hard for me to ride the bike, as pollution on road was evident. Even the roads far removed from any society and markets had a lot of smoke, and it was really hard to breathe. So I guess, these statisticians who are always saying about Green Diwali has some weight to them. In my journey, I fended myself from rockets, sutli bombs and small red crackers. At a point, I had so much smoke in my lungs, that I had no sense what I was doing, and I could not even drive, and could got into some minor accidents. Soon, on this very ride, I could feel a great depression overwhelming me, and I do not know what was the root cause of it. In between, I saw some young guys on fast bikes, and I tried to lift my soul by imitating them, but I guess I was missing connection factor as I was alone.
The stark reality of celebration hit me when, I stopped near a divider, and there were people sleeping on the footpath, in this pollution. They had no lights, no deepak, and all were trying to sleep in this polluted environment. I who was only traveling for 2 hours had such a dramatic effect on me, just think how much it would affect them. It is true that lights will always cast some shadows, and while these lights make our world better, but it can be bitter experience for some others too. Not that I'm taking a firm stand, as I too love firing up crackers with my brother, sister and cousins.
I also checked out clubs like Hard Rock Cafe or Novotel's Bar, but to my surprise, they were completely barren.
I started my travel at 4 in the evening, and I knew that today I will not find any societal gatherings, so I just browsed 100 kms into city of Hyderabad in the localities of Jubilee Hills, Banajra Hills, Bhagyanagar, Punjagutta, Yousufguda, Mehndipatnatm, Hi-tech city etc. I went to Taj, Novotell, GVK One, Hard Rock Cafe, and much more.
In my journey, I found that every shop had people gathered around it, either preparing for pooja or they were done with it. The kids were ready to fire crackers, and I could see electronic lights, candles, trendy diye and lot of mitti deepaks. This day, when I only travelled, could see the happiness on the face of each kid, and shop owners and their family, but it became very hard for me to ride the bike, as pollution on road was evident. Even the roads far removed from any society and markets had a lot of smoke, and it was really hard to breathe. So I guess, these statisticians who are always saying about Green Diwali has some weight to them. In my journey, I fended myself from rockets, sutli bombs and small red crackers. At a point, I had so much smoke in my lungs, that I had no sense what I was doing, and I could not even drive, and could got into some minor accidents. Soon, on this very ride, I could feel a great depression overwhelming me, and I do not know what was the root cause of it. In between, I saw some young guys on fast bikes, and I tried to lift my soul by imitating them, but I guess I was missing connection factor as I was alone.
The stark reality of celebration hit me when, I stopped near a divider, and there were people sleeping on the footpath, in this pollution. They had no lights, no deepak, and all were trying to sleep in this polluted environment. I who was only traveling for 2 hours had such a dramatic effect on me, just think how much it would affect them. It is true that lights will always cast some shadows, and while these lights make our world better, but it can be bitter experience for some others too. Not that I'm taking a firm stand, as I too love firing up crackers with my brother, sister and cousins.
I also checked out clubs like Hard Rock Cafe or Novotel's Bar, but to my surprise, they were completely barren.
Andhero ki in raato mein,mann ke deepak bahut jalao;kyun ki ye bujhte nahi,
aur bujhte bhi ho to surya ki raushni ko apnao
So with this, I end my lengthy account, and I tried my best to put the facts as I saw, but still I can be wrong. My Diwali totally sucked, but I guess, I also got something from this. So, even in dire situations, life can give you opportunity to make something interesting. I guess, I miss my family and friends, and with this story I can relinquish some of their disappointment towards me.
-- Ronak Kogta *(My real name) Wink! Wink!
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