Of Diwali and Laddoos

It was a thoroughly thought out plan. I was to make multiple sweets this Diwali, all from scratch, no ready-made mixes allowed. The reasoning behind such a plan was, as we were growing up, sweet making for Diwali was a major part of the celebration. Yes, there were the fireworks and all, but I loved the few days before the actual festival, spent shopping and cooking, as the excitement of the festival day grew. The aroma of raisins fried in ghee, the grinding of elaichi, sitting around the table making laddoos, the decisions of kolam designs, the new dresses adorned with turmeric…

The sweets changed through the years as me and my sister’s tastes changed, but sweet making and certain other things remained. There were always laddoos. It was always idlis for breakfast on Diwali mornings.

And that’s how its going to be this Diwali. There is going to be laddoos and there will be idlis…

I love my mom to have kept up the tradition. I love me to be continuing it…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When relatives come calling

I don’t have much experience, I must admit. Being brought up abroad, for me, relatives were just people whom you take away gifts for, during your visit to India, and in turn, you get to spend some time with them, to sit and laugh, and recall memories no one actually remembers. But what happens when you are done with earning all your dough abroad, and come back… And… one fine beautiful morning, relatives come calling… Welcome… Now, that’s one important thing you must do. Pick up them up at the airport or station or bus stand or your doorstep. Carry their luggage for them, irrespective of the fact whether they have goodies in store for you or not. And yes, when they enter your home, greet! Don’t ever forget to do that, you have to say, “Vaango, vaango” or perhaps “Aayeeye aayeeye”, even if you are actually thinking about that sweet time when they’ll be gone. Goodies... Like what they bring for you. Perhaps they actually picked it up from that rotten sale that was up to clear out stocks, ...
Read more

Yesterday's Class

Yes, I am learning music. Again. Finally. Some interesting conversations that happened in yesterday’s class. I asked, “How can anyone identify the Sur involved in a piece of music, when the concept of Sur is totally relative?” He told me it is one of the most difficult problems in music. People consider the Tanpura as some sort of standard, but it isn’t completely accurate. The solution is being researched, but he said he believed it was one of those non-computable problems. Reminded me of the good great Halting Problem. We were trying to sing different surs in random order. Ofcourse, we faltered. He said, “Understand the problem statement. And then strategize.” We saw we could easily break down the random order into pieces we had already learnt and that made it so much easier to sing. Association and Disassociation. I have always believed, Science, Religion, Spirituality, Art, Music, all these weren’t created to individually exist. They all support each other in some way or the other.
Read more

The Other Path of My Life

For I had not known then, what life had in store. I did hold on to the past, for a few months, and then it stopped to make sense, and the new overwhelming world took over. Now and then, the wind would blow, and faint memories would flood my eyes. I would just brush them off. I don’t really know if I made the decision to go by the flow, or whether it just happened. My life took a different course then on, it was exciting I must admit, and it brought me here, to where I am today. Sometimes I think, what if life hadn’t taken the course it took, what if I had held on to the past, what if I hadn’t forgotten the things I forced myself to forget. Would I still be here today? Would I have been happier? Would I have been disappointed? I crave to know. But then, I find the solace in the idea that someone else in this big world, is living that life that I gave up. I like to believe that all the permutations and combinations that result from the different choices we make in life, the different lif...
Read more