Diwali : Blending Sense with Tradition

Diwali, the festival of joy, lights and cuisines, provides a perfect opportunity to blend tradition with dash of sense and demonstrate to neighbours and friends smart new ways of doing old things.

The Eats: A huge amount of effort and resources are traditionally spent in procuring or preparing sweets for neighbours, relatives, colleagues, partners and bosses. My rough guess is that, diabetes, obesity and heart problems being as common as they presently are, most of these traditional delicacies are hardly touched by those for whom they were intended, and find their way to homes of servants, drivers and junior office staff. 

Should you want your sweets to be savoured and remembered, you need to make them appealing, healthy and different so that guests who have nibbled at the same-old-sweets, are game to try more than a mouthful at your home.  Adding and garnishing your preparation with natural sweeteners such as honey, dates, figs and raisins could add originality and make them stand out.  Milder tastes are in vogue these days; hence cutting down on sugar would be wise. And as most adults are wary of greasy sweets, slashing the ghee and oil content, and baking rather than deep-frying could be recipes for success.

Try cut portions of fruits, either raw or stewed, dipped in honey, and topped with spices such as cinnamon, cardammon and fennel seeds as  mouth fresheners or a simple fruit salad with honey and spices, rather than gulab jamoon, barfi or the artificially coloured khoya sweets.

Lights:  The “made in China” coloured tuny bulbs seem to have become the commonest way we adorn our homes on Diwali. Use diyas for a change. Insects and mosquitoes are repelled or killed by fire and smoke, and not by Chinese-made tuny bulbs. Hence if the present outbreaks of Dengue and malaria are to subside after Diwali, you could play your small role too and appear truely traditionl as well.

Crackers and Fireworks:  If you can’t imagine Diwali without them, wear a touch of class and attitude on your sleeves by using eco-friendly ones. These use recycled paper, have less toxic fumes, shed brighter colored lights and conform to lower decibels of sound.

The spirit of Diwali is to celebrate the victorious home-coming of Purushottam Ram, reverred for his uprightness, devotion to duty and kindness to others; hence using fire-works that might set homes ablaze or creating loud noises that scare infants and cause heart attacks in the elderly are not quite in keeping with the spirit. Cracker fumes are known to precipitate acute attacks in asthmatics. Gambling was also not in vogue in the “Thretha yug” and drinking also not part of the tradition of Ramji’s times. 

Celebrating victory of right over wrong, sharing joy and gifts with less privileged, and caring for others may be more in keeping with the spirit of Ramji.  Make this Deepawali be different.

As published in HT City (  Hindustan Times ) dated 31 october, 2010.