This Diwali, eat your fill, sing and dance with friends, family

Open up your hearts to regional cuisine, use Diwali as an occasion to learn more about traditional recipes and try making few in your kitchens
#Diwali

Beginning Navratras,
the festive season is upon us — Dussera, Karva Chauth, Ahoi, Dhanteras, Diwali,
Bhaidooj … buying and preparing, fasting and feasting and yet again fasting, it
is like a great book of festivals, one festival ongoing and the other in
waiting.

And then
there is Diwali, the major Indian festival, which the entire nation and its
economy looks up to with great hope. While some households are already making
place for the religious offerings of puffed rice and sugar toys in the
gleamingly cleaned up homes, most of us are caught up in ticking up to-do lists
and thronging market to buy supplies, gifts, decorations and provisions.

Suddenly
there is a nip in the weather and some smog in the air and traffic in the city.
“Where do all these cars and people come from!” we think to ourselves while stuck
up in the traffic or jostling in the overcrowded market trying to paw upon
things.

Diwali means
cleaning up of the entire house for most of us, a tradition that requires
arduous hours of washing and cleaning and stashing and folding and scrubbing
and thinking ‘who knew we had so much!’ While we are caught up in the roll of
things to be achieved, it is natural to feel not quite festive at times. But
one can still snatch small moments of happiness amid preparation for this
Diwali.

This Diwali, eat your fill, sing and dance with friends, family

This Diwali, eat your fill, sing and dance with friends, family 

First of
all, do not hesitate to seek help, superhumans are stuff of comic books. By
all means, do outsource the super cleaning to the experts if you are pressed
for time. Send out the carpets, curtains, bedspreads, cushion covers for
washing or dry cleaning.

Children can
easily organize their toys, books and play areas. Save the delivery cartons,
cover them in pretty cloth covers and hand them over to the children to keep
their stuff.

Rather than
keeping aside a day or two for the cleanup, undertake the activity in smaller
steps staggered across days wherein every person does a small cleaning chore as
per one’s ability each day. This way you’d be able to enlist the effort of family
as well as domestic help. Also, keeping an area clean is always easier than deep
cleaning it occasionally.

While cleaning
up one comes across many things that are kept in hope of their probable use.
Please pass on the thing you love but do not need to those who can make better
use of them. Any electrical equipment that is lying broken should be mended and
used. Food articles that are unopened and unconsumed for long must similarly be
passed on as your family is unlikely to develop a taste for those during or
after Diwali.

Wash and
pack the clothes that you and your kids don’t fit it anymore while they are good
and drop them at Daan Utsavs or NGOs that take used clothes and other household
items.

App-based shopping is a good option if you know what you'd be getting and keep adequate margin for the delivery.

App-based shopping is a good option if you know what you’d be getting and keep adequate margin for the delivery.

Most of
working parents already know that advance planning is the only way to meet the
paucity of time. While planning or prepping up for Diwali one should actually
think of weekends or Sundays as the only days available for festival shopping. App-based
shopping is also a good option if you know what you’d be getting and keep
adequate margin for the delivery. Always give away one when you buy its new
replacement. Generally, try to reuse, recycle or upcycle as much as you can. So,
an old ceramic teapot can make a good conversation-starter or your worn-out
brocade can be refashioned into posh table runners and cushion covers or
throws. Empty glass jars, similarly, can be used for festive decoration and as drinkware.

For all
purposes, avoid shopping in bustling markets during rush hours. It takes far
too long and drains out the shopper. Before hitting the markets make a note of
things to shop and stick to it. Though buy-one-get-one scheme may seem
lucrative unless you really have a serious need for the product or want to
gift it to someone, resist all impulsive purchases. If possible, shop for
clothes and gifts in advance so that adequate thought can be given to these
while freeing up the much-needed time period nearing the festivals.

While
shopping for clothes, go for natural, ethically sourced fibres. They may be
more expensive, but you’d end up buying less and also reduce your carbon
footprint. Buy what you’d wear and not because everyone’s wearing it. Vibrant
colours in traditional weaves look appealing and make a statement. Similarly,
for gifting, opt for thoughtful sustainable options — there are many available
in the market. Gifting, after all, is a personal expression, it can be as
unique as the person behind it and the person receiving it. The person receiving
gift should experience the same joy you had in selecting and making a present.
Unless the receiver is very religious, do steer away from gifting idols or
pictures of a deity. Similarly, homemade cookies or cakes,
preserves, snacks or traditional sweet when gifted-packed aesthetically make
far more appealing a gift than the ubiquitous soan papdi.

Use Diwali as an occasion to learn more about traditional recipes and try making few in your kitchens

Use Diwali as an occasion to learn more about traditional recipes and try making few in your kitchens

Or you can
scrape off the tradition of gifting altogether and begin a new tradition in its
place. What we do to have fun and enjoyment is up to us and endless are the
possibilities. Gift your neighbours a cleaner locality by helping clean it like
you do your homes. Get together, hold that broom and pick up a bag and just
have the area clean by initiating a contribution towards the same. Gather the
kids and encourage them to make traditional leaves torans to be put upon entrances and paper banners for decorations.
Similarly, they can be involved with rangoli
art and the elderlies can be roped in to narrate the folklore surrounding
the festival.

Illuminate
your house beautifully with string lights, one is spoilt for choices in the matter
of lighting. They are available in endless varieties, are longer-lasting,
safer, hassle-free and take time only while installing. Earthen lamps can then
be used only for symbolic purposes and candles should be used sparingly.

Initiate
potluck parties where each family brings a dish, plan fun-filled parlour games
and celebrate Diwali in community. Reach out to the people who live alone,
assisted or are elderly. Home-cooked food adds variety, is more flavourful and
easy on festival bellies. Open up your hearts to regional cuisine, use Diwali
as an occasion to learn more about traditional recipes and try making few in
your kitchens. Eat your fill, sing and dance unrehearsed, uninhibitedly with
friends and family and laugh out loud. Illuminated faces and souls would make
for a brighter Diwali.

Also Read: Diwali is a celebration of homecoming, coming to oneself

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