Diwali Time!

It happens every Diwali! Going home on Diwali has always been a bit of troublesome for me. Last time it was Kingfisher but this time, if anyone has to be blamed, it’s me.

I was so engrossed in my Laddakh trip preparations that I completely forgot that I needed to book the tickets for Diwali. And when my sister reminded me, it was too late. Train tickets were impossible, of course, and airlines were grabbing a good chunk of my salary. Some of my friends suggested: Iss baar yahi ruk ja. Humare saath mana le Diwali” But it was Diwali for God’s sake. So I took one-way flight and other way train. And both ways were via Chennai.

It’s a kind of unwritten rule that you have to be at home on Diwali. And this time it was more important for me to be at home because this was the first Diwali when my sister’s not going to be with us: She’ll now be at her in-laws place every Diwali. And I didn’t want my parents to be alone.

Diwali has been an occasion for so many things in our memories and that it’s hard to be away from home during Diwali. New clothes. Sweets. Crackers. Relatives. And what not?

But Diwali is definitely more than above tangible things. It’s an excuse to be away from that corporate world where life becomes so mechanized, that you need a human touch to realize that there’s more to life than those damn deadlines. Though I never miss a chance to sneak out of my work life but Diwali is special.

The euphoria and excitement of our childhood may be missing now, but still Diwali will always be that time of the year, when you want to be where you should be.