[Image] Deepavali ,also known as festival of lights is the biggest festival for hindus and is celebrated with equal enthusiasm throughout India. According to Hindu mythology Ramayana , the people of ayodya celebrated the return of their king Ram and Sita from their 14 yr exile after defeating the evil Ravana ,with firecrackers and Diyas (lamps) and thus Deepavali came into existence.The festivals marks the triumph of good over evil and effigies of Ravana are burned around this time in open grounds in many places in India.
Deepavali is one of the most awaited festivals in India and preparations for it starts months before. My memory of this festival include buying nice clothes and lighting lots of lamps around our house.As a kid Deepavali for me was holidays and loads of good food.
The usual norm is people give each other gifts mostly dryfruits ,this practice is very common in North India. When I used to live there I used eagerly count the no of boxes that we got !! I remember going to huge open stalls for buying crackers and dad always used to put limit on how many we can buy.
New movies are released during Deepavali because for many people this time of the year is like a lucky charm. One of the most prominent thing that anyone can see during Deepavali is the bursting of crackers but sometimes it gets out of control. Because of this the govt of India has set a time limit at around 11 PM.The side effects and play safely ads pop up on every channel a week before the celebrations but even with these you get up the next day and you will find 2-3 hand/eye burning cases in newspapers.
The aftermath of cracker bursting can be seen next day when roads are covered with remains of crackers and the air is totally polluted.I used to burst lot of crackers but recently stopped doing so because it is too much of noise and pollution .
No matter if you burst crackers or not everyone has their own way of enjoying festival. Here's wishing everyone a Happy and Safe Deepavali.
*** Why I am writing this post so early because we are flying to India.Last year for we couldn't go back home for this festival but this year we are off to India for 15 days and this will be our major festivals with our friends and family. I can't wait to join the celebrations !!!