Post Diwali



Hi,all!For those who celebrated Diwali and New Year-hope they were great! What a long weekend everyone's had,back in India.Wow!!(Hope I'll be enjoying it too,next year)
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On to some Diwali heights:
-Height of laziness: Sending a copy-pasted pic of Diwali wishes(or an ecard) to someone, instead of typing a simple'Wishing you a Very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year', which takes all of a minute and adds a personal touch to it.

- Height of a lil more laziness: Sending the email from your office id,so your designation,company name,et al appear on it,as also the traditional message of' This message is confidential and meant only to be read by the person to whom it is sent....'

- Height of further laziness: Sending the same card to all the people on your messenger lists/address book.

- Height of still further laziness: Someone to whom a card was sent, pressing 'Reply to all', and, adding his name to the wish, without deleting the original sender's name. Doesn't the person think that 'All' the people on the first sender's list are not known to him?Or,is it just a way to spread e-joy all around?

- Height of still further laziness: After I sent a thank you to the second person,and,added my wishes(No,no card,no pic..typed wishes), he again presses 'reply to all', and, sends me a wish once again.(I know he presses 'reply to all', because I'd copied the card to my other email id.LOL).

- No, I wasn't tempted to see whether the other person is really checking whom he is replying to,so I didn't re-forward the wish again!!

Well,it just proves,we've come a long way,na!!But,alas-in which direction? Will we ever know the pleasure of going shopping for Diwali cards,picking the right cards for the right people, or,getting Diwali cards printed,and,adding the personal touch by addressing each card by hand,putting stamps,and going to the post office and sending them off? Not really,I guess-unless the internet collapses!!(What a mind-numbing thought)
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Thinking of past Diwali moments, I was reminded of these moments,some sad and some happy(Chronological order, starting from oldest)...I'm not mentioning the joy of house cleaning, Lighting Diyas and saying prayers, since they are always there,every Diwali!
(Warning: Some of these might(0.1%) sound boring to some people, while Austy will surely appreciate them,coz she's also from 'our Baroda')

- Watching longingly at the neighbours' bursting crackers and bombs and sending off rockets,while we were lighting sparklers/colour matches/snakes, since that was really what we could afford.

- Seeing oodles of firecrackers lighting up the night sky,and coming to know next day that there had been a fire in the 'enclosed on three sides' firecracker market on Exhibition Ground in Baroda and scores had died trying to run out.(Since then, the market always has a fire engine,and an open area for sales)

- Being in Delhi on Diwali, going to a Diwali Mela, buying cute stationery and other curios,all within the princely sum of 75-100 Rs.

- Meeting people- on New Year Day and the days following it, enjoying the Diwali specialities,from namkeens to sweets,etc.

- On New Year Day: Standing on the 2nd Floor Balcony of our building in the early morning and watching the main shop-keepers bursting entire 'looms' of firecrackers, to convey their joy at their having made a tidy profit in the Diwali month.

- Going down,to the watch-repair shop downstairs,after the 'show', partaking of half a sweet(peda),and wishing him, as also, the tailor opposite(Hingu was their unusual name),and following the same routine.

- Moving around the area( Patthargate,NyayMandir,etc) to see how people were celebrating.

- Waiting from 10 AM for the postman to arrive,and his arriving at noon,since he'd have been busy collecting 'baksheesh', for Diwali,while delivering people's letters. And,he'd always expect' something more than the usual 5-10 bucks from me, since he was kept busy round the year bringing my penpal letters, DXing hobby letters/cards/gifts, mag prizes, et al..the last time I met him, before leaving the building, he'd taken 100 bucks!(Inflationary times, indeed)
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Till next time, have a delightful New Year,everyone!

And,for those not looking forward to returning to work on Monday,here's a Dilbert thought:

Comments

The Ego said…
Tell me about it... hate the Diwali msgs that are so clearly forwards...
10/31/2008 9:33 PM
Keshi said…
Amit this is a great post! Its not only funny but it also delivers a very real msg...that ppl hv become lazy with technology advances and no one really MEANS anything these days!

At the press of a button and with a crappy e-card, ppl expect their feelings to be conveyed to the other person. I still prefer the hand-written letters n cards...


Trust me when I say this...I get so annoyed when I see the same copy-pasted diwali wishes in my inbox! All I do is mumble a cuss-word in slience. lol really! I dun mean to be rude and Im not complaining...but I know those wishes r not even MEANT - they were just sent for the heck of it. Just to hv em in my good books.

Why send a wish when u dun mean it? I'd rather not send anything at all.



**- Height of still further laziness: After I sent a thank you to the second person,and,added my wishes(No,no card,no pic..typed wishes), he again presses 'reply to all', and, sends me a wish once again.(I know he presses 'reply to all', because I'd copied the card to my other email id.LOL).


hahahaha! u should send him a reply with ALL the cards u got. That will put him off Diwali e-cards for 5yrs or so!


And u took us down the memory lane, with ur history of Diwali celebrations so far. That was really nice Amit.


I used to roam ard the neighborhood streets during festival times..and as a kid I used to be crazy abt fireworks and sweets n dresses etc etc. Now that Im older and know wut life really is abt (SUCKS big time), now I just listen to my iPod on such days lol!

Keshi.
11/01/2008 4:30 AM
austere said…
:)
That small town diwali had its own brand of magic..I remember getting so excited about going for lunch/dinner to relatives homes..
That fire on Polo ground.. so long ago...
I remember the neighbors firing rockets and bursting "teti" till very late in the night.

Shukriya for the memories...
11/01/2008 8:20 PM
Anonymous said…
I remember lighting snakes during Diwali and being amused at how they came out. Then I would get scolded by my parents for lighting them on our entrance that left black marks everywhere (including my hands lol)... Making rangoli platforms and then buying colors and making pretty designs with those stencils was another one of my Diwali memories. Lastly, Bestu varash when people from the society come visit us and we visit every single house in the society used to be so endearing.

Now it hurts to know that I am missing out on all these little joys and festivities. Se sovenier... Good post Amit, as always :)

-Shreya
11/04/2008 2:32 AM
Pooja said…
Really nice post...and I hate those forward msgs...some of them don't even make much sense...and I hate ones that rhyme!! Eww! Your old memories of Diwali seems so much better than how its spend now...I remember when I was a kid, in Bombay the day of badi Diwali, we took mithai and namkeen on plates to all the flats in the building and looked forward to the many plates that made their way to our house. I had plates in particular that I waited for a lot! Some aunty who made the best mithai:))) And now here in blore I barely know the people who live next to us!

Like most things, Diwali was way better in the good old days!
11/04/2008 4:02 PM
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