As a kid, all I could think of, was the new clothes, crackers and holidays that I would spend playing with my friends all day! I remember cursing myself for being a girl, coz my hair would take some time to dry and I would have to wait to burst crackers while my brother would wake up at the crack of dawn and start bursting the more 'dangerous' ones while I would stick to flowerpots and discs, maybe... After lunch, we would change into old clothes and burst 'bijli vedi' by hand!!
Sometimes, I would burst one or two in my hands and hurt myself, but would bear it coz I did'nt want to made fun of, or worse, sent home! We would also collect all the ones that did'nt go up, remove the gunpowder and then, put all the remaining small 'not-so-dangerous' bijli or kuruvi vedi into a coconut shell and light it. We used to be mighty thrilled when it would fly in all directions as if we had achieved a major feat! It was considered a 'seniors' activity and I would rant and rave that I want to join my brother. He would grudgingly let me tag along coz my mom would'nt let him go without me. She would be tired from all the work at home, the least she would want is a stubborn, crying, cranky kid bugging her!
Then, for the gala, we would all save up our fancy and expensive crackers like Rockets, seven stars among others, pool it and we would all go to the terrace and hand over our precious crackers to the senior kids ( read brother and kids of his age) . We would all watch the beautiful sparkles and enjoy ourselves all together as a group. We had a lovely group in our colony, and even otherwise we would all play together. My brother and I, were so happy we lived there...we finished our homework and assigned household chores and run to play everyday! I am, still in touch, with a few of them through orkut or facebook even now.
Amma would make tons of 'ribbon pakoda' and my brother and I, would eat to our heart's content and stomach's discomfort. What fun those days were!!
Now, I have mellowed down and spend Diwali lighting diyas at home, as you can see and visiting and receiving friends...which is great too!! I am spending a 'grown-up' Diwali, spent most of the extra off's from work, watching movies back-to-back, nice conversations with S, eating bhuttas and reading books! Of course, even now the excitement of new clothes has not gone down! I wore lovely clothes and preened in front of the mirror!
I presume when we have kids, my enthusiam for crackers will resurface or not..who knows? Will have to wait and watch!!
