Dear Goddess Lakshmi,
I hope you came on Diwali night to my nicely lit house and blessed us. Though I tried to keep the house clean and beautiful, I hope you didn’t notice the kid’s room which had turned into a store room for all the biscuit boxes we were receiving. The drawing room was also meant to have only furniture, just that the guests kept coming and hence the snacks tray and juice bottles couldn’t get back to the kitchen sink. Also, the kids were a little out of control that night and though they were instructed not to make Rangoli inside the house, the spilled water colours on the floor were their way of welcoming you I guess.
The marigold garlands that adorned the house were also supposed to be more in number, but the flower guys had made a cartel and were selling them at 50 Rs a piece, and that’s almost 10X the original price. We had intended to go out and explore the market for cheaper options, but the PM 2.5 levels were really hazardous, and it took us some time to explore the plethora of air purifier machines that exist in the market; I’m sure you too would have also thought twice before coming down to this Troposphere.
Our intentions were in order when we sat down to start your puja on time, but the innocent question of the kid stumped us- If Diwali is celebrated for Lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya, why are we praying to Lakshmi ji? A quick help from Google and we realised that Diwali has more than one significance. In fact, it’s a 5-day feast that begins with Dhanteras, Choti Diwali, Diwali, Govardhan Puja and ends with Bhai Dooj, each with a separate story and significance- just a matter of coincidence that they come one after the other. The innocent mind’s appetite wasn’t fulfilled and asked again if we have already prayed to Lakhmi ji on Dhanteras day then why are we praying to her again and not Lord Ram? With the hope that I would seek answer to this question as soon as I get time, I satiated her probing by saying that all Gods are same and let’s finish the puja first, else Lakshmi ji will not come to our house.
Ever since I can remember, Diwali cleaning has been a time of major house overhauls and deep house cleaning. The Urban Claps didn’t exist in those days and we, youngsters were made to climb up the ladders to reach the highest possible point of the house, to the shouts and motivation of the elders standing down. And every year, by the time the D-Day arrived, the house would get back to mess all around, with no control over what’s lying around and what’s not. Wish you were meant to come a day earlier and not on the day when the tired body was more on a robotic mode of entertaining guests, sorting out gifts, haggling with maids on an ideal Diwali bonus and combating unnecessary traffic jams and noise/air pollution.
With the hope that next year we would indeed have a clean house to welcome you in, here’s signing off for the next 11 months!
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