Diwali Delirium!

To make matters clear, I'm not your average Hindu wife. In fact, I'm not a Hindu wife at all, but I pretend to be one just because I'm married to a Hindu husband. Tolerance of each other's religion has been the order of the day from Day 1 in the Kanna household, so just as the husband accompanies me to church on Christmas Eve (though I must confess that's about the only time of year I step into a church!) and helps me trim the Christmas tree, so do I jump headlong into the Diwali delirium and madness each year. And why do we bother with this semblance at all? For the kid, has always been our answer. Our teenager has been in India for Diwali just once in his young life, so we try our best to remind him of the traditions from back home. Only, the kid now claims he has no religion at all! And here we are, thousands of miles away from home, pathetically trying to reinforce a cultural lesson and desperately attempting to infuse some excitement into it all!

Diwali, the Festival of Lights, dawned bright and clear here in Vancouver yesterday, but life in an alien land dictates you go about your daily chores with no thoughts of what is culturally important to you from back home. So off we went to work, and the kid to school! It was cereal and banana for breakfast as usual, as I thought of Amma's (my mother-in-law's) "paal panniyaram" ( a sweet lentil delicacy soaked in coconut milk) and "ullundu vadai" (a deep- fried savory snack made of ground urad dal - my favorite!), not to mention the idlis and mutton curry, a staple on Diwali mornings back home. My mother-in-law always ensures that we don't forget the big day by sounding the alarm at least three weeks ahead. It always starts with the question to her son if he has bought new clothes for everyone for Diwali. Last year, despite her reminder, we forgot the clothes-shopping and rushed to the mall at the last minute, which is another story! Anyways, thanks to Amma, I got six designer label outfits for Diwali, and so did the kid.

My mother-in-law then asks me what sweets I plan to make and what's going to be my menu on Diwali day. Good Lord! I'm a career woman in a foreign land whose life's a crazy whirl each day and I have nary a moment to even give such mundane things a thought. However, I've always managed to remember and honour her reminder to me as a young bride that the oil must boil at home on Diwali day to ensure prosperity in the coming year ("Ennai nallaa kaayanum, Olivia!"). After 23 years of marriage, I still haven't made a logical or scientific connection to boiling oil and prosperity, and so it was this Diwali as well. After a considerably long day teaching at college (to which I wore an Indian kurta and jeans, Friday being a casual clothes day, and talking about Diwali to my international students) and then running to the pharmacy to get my flu shot, I rushed home to make the necessary sweet and savoury for the evening prayers. Thanks to MTR, I made the ullundu vadai from the instant mix (since my Ultra Grind has given up the ghost and we've had no time to replace it!), which turned out soft and golden brown, much to my amazement! The shape of the vadai was a different story though ... from a flat, round shape, it slowly turned into a flat, elongated one, then into a round blob like a bonda, but who cares! I still haven't heard the last of it from my men though! I had no time for the gulab jamuns, so made do with kesari instead. The idli batter ground the previous day had risen splendidly, so it was soft idlis, accompanied by mutton curry and coconut chutney, as well. The mixture, kara chev, and the assorted sweets from the Punjabi sweet shop completed the spread.

The kid finished his session with his Math tutor at 7.30 PM, and was asked to take a shower. "But I already did this morning! Aw man, why do I need another one now?" was his annoyed cry. "It's for Diwali," I reminded him. "But I'm not a Hindu!" came the quick retort. "I'm not one, either," I said, "but Dad is!" To make the long story short, we showered, donned our new clothes, offered prayers, and set to attack the food like hungry wolves. If I might add another animal simile here, the men ate like pigs!!! With constant comments from the kid about his not being a Hindu and why on earth (or was it why the hell ?!?) were we celebrating Diwali at 9.30 PM and shouldn't it be celebrated early in the morning, and all that, the Diwali delirium came to an end. One more year for it to start all over again, with my mother-in-law's reminders and questions from way back home! The day after, I now feel feverish from yesterday's flu shot, and I hope I don't go into a delirium of the other kind! Hope you all had a good Diwali, my friends!