HAPPY DIWALI!

A DIFFERENT, BUT VERY HAPPY NONETHELESS, FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

Image credit: DZENINA IUZAK on Pexels.

Old-timers in Canada will tell you tales of how they celebrated Diwali that will make you wonder if they are speaking of another planet. No mithai shops – or certainly not as many as we have now – and not even that many desi grocery stores where everything one needs to make mithai was easily available.

“We devised pedas with ricotta cheese and used Rice Krispies in chewra, much like Ashima does for jhal muri in The Namesake!” recalls Sudha Tripathi with a smile. “With far fewer desis in most towns and cities, there weren’t that many people to do a mithai exchange with, anyway.”

Nowhere to pick up puja items from. No firecrackers until they learnt to pick up some when they were sold for Victoria Day or Canada Day and stash them away for Diwali.

And to string up Christmas lights in October or November in lieu of diyas or candles that wouldn’t stay lit outside on cold, windy nights.

More recent newcomers are spoilt for choice with a plethora of places offering every imaginable Diwali delicacy and puja samagri.

But they, too, will have stories to tell of the Diwali we will celebrate this year. For Diwali 2020 will be different from any we have celebrated thus far.

Many of the shops we frequent for mithai and munchies are struggling to stay open with the restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. The shelves on desi groceries are sparsely populated with many common ingredients MIA.

“The shipments are delayed,” say grocery owners morosely.

Those who picked up firecrackers in anticipation of a Diwali get-together are now wondering if they will last until next year because, everyone is being advised not to mingle with anyone outside their physical address. Which also means we are back to the not-that-many-people to do a mithai exchange with days.

But what seems like a litany of complaints can be an opportunity to reset our thinking. To focus on what Diwali actually means – a celebration of light over darkness.

If we can count our blessings, celebrate good health, send up a prayer for those in less fortunate circumstances, we will enjoy a bright and beautiful Diwali.

The firecrackers and the mithai will be back next year! This year, put on your Diwali best and share a platter of Diwali treats with your family. Don’t forget to take lots of photographs, because this is one Diwali we will be talking about for years to come!