A smile lit up the whole face on a child as his mother lit the small oil lamp on the occasion of Diwali. The happiness on his face was seen to be believed and his mom looked on cuddled him kissed his face. The child ran and started playing with his friends. His mom just made sure he is in the confines of their neighborhood and sat on the door step. As I looked back at his mother I realized the lamp she just lit was only lamp in the house. The only source of light in the house was this small oil lamp which was now lit at the door step so that it not only illuminates the inside but also the outside of the house.
I thought the lamp was synonymous to her as it was fighting the darkness inside the house as well as outside single-handedly. His mother would be living this struggle day in and day out. She sat in the small hut beside the lamp seeing her son play in the vicinity. I probably even saw a tear “lit” up in her eye seeing her son happy with only the mention of the festival called Diwali. He probably did not understand the importance of any of the 5 days which constitute the festival but the innocence in him was keeping him happy for the mere mention of it. He did not know what was supposed to be done on these days. I thought whether he even knew something called as sweets, new clothes (shopping), crackers etc….
I moved on into the market and the whole scene was reversed. The whole market was illuminated with various lanterns and various designs of them in various colors. There were many electric shops which sold bulbs of various colours and shapes and small mud lamps of various sizes and colors. There were other shops selling sweets, crackers and attractive gift items and what not!!!!!
The whole scene in front of me just made me forget what I just saw at the small hut. The parameters of happiness changed in me taking just few steps. Now a mere mention of Diwali was no longer a criteria to be happy but there were lot of other things ……materialistic things……… which made Diwali…..which make people like us happy…….
I walked wondering what and how the mother convinced that child about these things being non consequential or even a factor for being happy. But the fact was her son was happy just by lighting up the small lamp.
I walked through the market seeing people buy bulbs, lanterns, rangolis, crackers, sweets, new clothes etc etc…. and all returned with happy faces. There was not a single soul which was sad or dissatisfied. Everyone bought what they could and walked home being satisfied. I stopped by a shop which was selling crackers. I literally saw myself growing up at that shop from when my dad used to carry me on his shoulders to buy crackers to the point today when I have come to buy it with my own hard earned money.
I stood there saw a whole spectrum of generation from dads to children and then to dads becoming children to convince their children that these crackers are too expensive or enough and how they are not worth and how they can buy something later during the 5 days to other such reasons. I watched all the fun and then again thought of that mother who just simply said its Diwali and the child was happy. I thought I witnessed 2 different contrast worlds, economies or whatever you call them……
I bought some crackers to enjoy with my friends and started the walk back to my house. The whole scene and atmosphere was electric and as I returned to the hut again I saw the child sitting in his mother’s lap adjacent to the same lamp and looking at the children bursting crackers and eating sweets with their new clothes on. The child was still happy; he was not crying or persuading his mother to get those things for him. Every burst of a cracker would not only lit up his face with light but also with a smile. He would then look at his mother and his mother would return the smile back at him or showed him some other fireworks to enjoy. I was standing there surprised to see the child enjoy and filled with happiness which was so pure and simple that I almost laughed at myself to have bought crackers to have fun and enjoy.
Another burst of crackers and he jumped with joy on his mother’s lap and for the first time in this whole episode the child showed his finger to the cracker. As he showed his finger to one his mom showed another firecracker, the funniest part of was she did not evade his temptation of having one for himself. I initially did not understand why did not she evade, instead she showed better fireworks than earlier. The child moved to the better one and to the next one and eventually stopped showing fingers or left the will to have any one of those. I instantly understood she was not evading her son’s attention to the something better but she was killing the temptations of demanding and having those crackers.
She was still smiling and killing each attempt of her son to get tempt for some crackers but now the smile had tinge of sadness, a feeling of helplessness… a feeling of vulnerability to one own-self that she could not afford even one. As I was witnessing this I felt tears rolling down my cheeks having bought bag full of them myself as even I standing at the cracker shop could not resist myself from buying them. How is this child resisting itself was out of my imagination.
I went back at the shop and after standing in long queue waiting for my turn finally got hold of some crackers and sweets and came back at the hut. I saw the mother-son siting there and this time the child was only seeing the crackers being burst by his friends. He was still smiling and was enjoying but lacked enthusiasm. I asked his mother if I can give some crackers to him and to my utter shock she refused to take any.
Her logic was simple she had successfully killed the child’s temptation of bursting crackers, she had taught her son to kill such temptations and did not wish that I should in any way disturb the equilibrium. I tried convincing her but she refused. His mother took the sweets and gave me greetings for Diwali. As I looked back at the child he was back to his antics and enjoying seeing others burst crackers. I thought, in the time I took to buy crackers the child grew up leaps and bounds and learned a very important lesson in his life so early that we being grownups don’t learn. She gave him very important lesson on how to control temptations which could possibly leads us in crossing boundaries to fulfill them. She gave the sweets to her son and he was thrilled, I wished him and hugged him and came back home.
I did burst the crackers I had bought but none of them at that night could lit up my face or bring up the smile that the child had. I thought what would make the child smile and I instantly ran downstairs went to the shop bought a gift for them and again gave it to his mother. She opened it and this time did not refuse but smiled at me and folded her hands in acknowledgment as tears rolled from her eyes.
I had bought nothing but oil for them to lit up the lamp which was now dying for the want of it and her son was trying to save it desperately. She went there and instantly poured some oil into it and the lamp revived again with that the child and his smile was back as I had seen it the first time……..
I went back home and enjoyed the Diwali like never before….. That was the best Diwali of my life…..
I thought the lamp was synonymous to her as it was fighting the darkness inside the house as well as outside single-handedly. His mother would be living this struggle day in and day out. She sat in the small hut beside the lamp seeing her son play in the vicinity. I probably even saw a tear “lit” up in her eye seeing her son happy with only the mention of the festival called Diwali. He probably did not understand the importance of any of the 5 days which constitute the festival but the innocence in him was keeping him happy for the mere mention of it. He did not know what was supposed to be done on these days. I thought whether he even knew something called as sweets, new clothes (shopping), crackers etc….
I moved on into the market and the whole scene was reversed. The whole market was illuminated with various lanterns and various designs of them in various colors. There were many electric shops which sold bulbs of various colours and shapes and small mud lamps of various sizes and colors. There were other shops selling sweets, crackers and attractive gift items and what not!!!!!
The whole scene in front of me just made me forget what I just saw at the small hut. The parameters of happiness changed in me taking just few steps. Now a mere mention of Diwali was no longer a criteria to be happy but there were lot of other things ……materialistic things……… which made Diwali…..which make people like us happy…….
I walked wondering what and how the mother convinced that child about these things being non consequential or even a factor for being happy. But the fact was her son was happy just by lighting up the small lamp.
I walked through the market seeing people buy bulbs, lanterns, rangolis, crackers, sweets, new clothes etc etc…. and all returned with happy faces. There was not a single soul which was sad or dissatisfied. Everyone bought what they could and walked home being satisfied. I stopped by a shop which was selling crackers. I literally saw myself growing up at that shop from when my dad used to carry me on his shoulders to buy crackers to the point today when I have come to buy it with my own hard earned money.
I stood there saw a whole spectrum of generation from dads to children and then to dads becoming children to convince their children that these crackers are too expensive or enough and how they are not worth and how they can buy something later during the 5 days to other such reasons. I watched all the fun and then again thought of that mother who just simply said its Diwali and the child was happy. I thought I witnessed 2 different contrast worlds, economies or whatever you call them……
I bought some crackers to enjoy with my friends and started the walk back to my house. The whole scene and atmosphere was electric and as I returned to the hut again I saw the child sitting in his mother’s lap adjacent to the same lamp and looking at the children bursting crackers and eating sweets with their new clothes on. The child was still happy; he was not crying or persuading his mother to get those things for him. Every burst of a cracker would not only lit up his face with light but also with a smile. He would then look at his mother and his mother would return the smile back at him or showed him some other fireworks to enjoy. I was standing there surprised to see the child enjoy and filled with happiness which was so pure and simple that I almost laughed at myself to have bought crackers to have fun and enjoy.
Another burst of crackers and he jumped with joy on his mother’s lap and for the first time in this whole episode the child showed his finger to the cracker. As he showed his finger to one his mom showed another firecracker, the funniest part of was she did not evade his temptation of having one for himself. I initially did not understand why did not she evade, instead she showed better fireworks than earlier. The child moved to the better one and to the next one and eventually stopped showing fingers or left the will to have any one of those. I instantly understood she was not evading her son’s attention to the something better but she was killing the temptations of demanding and having those crackers.
She was still smiling and killing each attempt of her son to get tempt for some crackers but now the smile had tinge of sadness, a feeling of helplessness… a feeling of vulnerability to one own-self that she could not afford even one. As I was witnessing this I felt tears rolling down my cheeks having bought bag full of them myself as even I standing at the cracker shop could not resist myself from buying them. How is this child resisting itself was out of my imagination.
I went back at the shop and after standing in long queue waiting for my turn finally got hold of some crackers and sweets and came back at the hut. I saw the mother-son siting there and this time the child was only seeing the crackers being burst by his friends. He was still smiling and was enjoying but lacked enthusiasm. I asked his mother if I can give some crackers to him and to my utter shock she refused to take any.
Her logic was simple she had successfully killed the child’s temptation of bursting crackers, she had taught her son to kill such temptations and did not wish that I should in any way disturb the equilibrium. I tried convincing her but she refused. His mother took the sweets and gave me greetings for Diwali. As I looked back at the child he was back to his antics and enjoying seeing others burst crackers. I thought, in the time I took to buy crackers the child grew up leaps and bounds and learned a very important lesson in his life so early that we being grownups don’t learn. She gave him very important lesson on how to control temptations which could possibly leads us in crossing boundaries to fulfill them. She gave the sweets to her son and he was thrilled, I wished him and hugged him and came back home.
I did burst the crackers I had bought but none of them at that night could lit up my face or bring up the smile that the child had. I thought what would make the child smile and I instantly ran downstairs went to the shop bought a gift for them and again gave it to his mother. She opened it and this time did not refuse but smiled at me and folded her hands in acknowledgment as tears rolled from her eyes.
I had bought nothing but oil for them to lit up the lamp which was now dying for the want of it and her son was trying to save it desperately. She went there and instantly poured some oil into it and the lamp revived again with that the child and his smile was back as I had seen it the first time……..
I went back home and enjoyed the Diwali like never before….. That was the best Diwali of my life…..
5 comments:
There is something in this blog for everyone of us... no matter how much we grow up... no matter how much money we earn... we play one of the characters interchangeably in our lives.... Good piece of work Ash!!! Keep it up!!!
:) :) :) :)
i just have smiles all over my face.. :)
nice one...
heyy i jus love the way u fill colours to ur thoughts.........nd write such touch things.....! awesom.i dont hv ny other words...
Very touching one Ash...as I said earlier, your writing has the potential to move the reader! Keep up the good work...and keep writing, 'coz I thoroughly enjoy reading ur articles:-)
Luv ya,
Vids
Awesome....So nice..yet so simple...Luved it....
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