Deepawali

Deepawali (called Diwali in short) is a major festival in Hindu religion. It has no fixed date as per the Gregorian calendar. It falls just before the onset of winters, generally in the start of November. This festival has lot of symbolism attached to it. It represents the victory of light over darkness, good over evil. It is a celebration of good fortune and prosperity. Goddess Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, is worshipped on this day. But most of all, this festival is an occasion for families to get together and celebrate life itself.

So how did all this start? As per the Ramayana, Ravana, the king of Lanka, had abducted Sita. Lord Rama rescued his wife, Sita,  from Ravana by beating the Lankan army and killing him. This killing of Ravana, the evil, is celebrated as Dusshera, which falls just about two weeks before Diwali. When Lord Rama returned to his hometown, Ayodhya (the town still exists!), along with Sita and his younger brother Laxman, the people were happy to see their king and celebrated by lighting lamps in their homes and all across the town. The festivities caught on and became the modern day Diwali.

The history is fascinating, but my dear reader, what you've read above is simply not enough to describe the general atmosphere that exists on this day. Ask any India what their favourite festival is, and 8 times out of 10, you'll get the answer as Diwali. Well, some people prefer Holi, the festival of colours that represents the onset of spring season. Diwali has been my favourite festival ever since I was a little kid. The preparations for Diwali start well before the day. The ladies of the house prepare tonnes of sweetmeats to gift to friends, neighbours and relatives. A couple of days before Diwali we have Dhanteras. Every household is supposed to buy new utensils on this auspicious day. The whole house is thoroughly cleaned and often freshly painted for Diwali. Households buy new clothes, lamps, sweets, firecrackers for the ocassion.

On the day of Diwali, every corner of the house is clean and shiny. People dress in new clothes and spend the day visiting their friends and relatives and exchanging pleasantries. The major part of the celebrations is the Laxmi Pujan, which is the the worship of Goddess Laxmi. The ceremony is performed by the man of the house and every member of the house has to be present during the occasion. There is a particular auspicious time for performing the ceremony. Then lamps are lighted in every part of the house. It is said that all darkness has to be removed with the use of lights. People often decorate their houses with colourful electric lights. After the Pujan, the fun really starts for children because it is the time for firecrackers. They come in a lot of variety and colour, ranging from glowing lamps to explosive miniature bombs. There can often be competition among neighbouring kids about who has got the better firecrackers. After this is done, the family settles down to a speacial dinner for the day. The dinner is composed of usual Indian delicacies.

In recent times, the use of firecrackers has been questioned as there are many negative aspects associated with their use. As it has often been mentioned to support this cause: Diwali is a festival of light, and not noise. Firecrackers emit a lot of smoke and sound, and can cause significant air and noise pollution. This is especially hard for areas around hospitals etc. Another negative aspect associated with firecrackers is that it has been accused that, to save costs, manufacturers often employ child labour, which is illegal in India. Many people have now voluntarily given up using firecrackers, but the spirit of Diwali is as alive as ever.

Adieu 2011

So another year goes by - a year that was made special by a number of events. Getting into IIMC and India winning the world cup are in the top drawer among those events. Some things are not so obvious though, they come to foreground only after some thought. This year I got to spend about 6 months in Kolkata, 1 month in Delhi, 2 months at home in Hardwar and 3 months in Surat; what more can a person who is struck by wanderlust ask for. Never before had I been to the east of Allahabad. Got to visit two metros for the first time this year, Kolkata and Mumbai. Although it was just a 5-day stay in Mumbai, hoping for a fun-filled stay in Mumbai during internship. Kota was also a city I visited for the first time this year. Revisiting the Alma mater IITD and recollecting the memories of past years was bittersweet.

I still can't get over India winning the world cup. Maybe it was the effect of Surat - a city I loved. The happy-go-lucky folk of the city really transformed my viewpoint of society (given the typical western UP society that I've grown up in). People dancing in the streets after winning the semi-final against Pakistan was awesome. And after the final, roaming the streets with the tricolour held high all night long, people cheering on seeing each others' tricolour, random people distributing sweets in streets - one of the high points of my stay in Surat. Watching the India vs Australia Q/F match in Ahmedabad is a memory that will stay for life (Thanks to Ishan for booking the ticket at the last moment).

Getting into IIMC was a surprise, even for myself! After a not-so-good CAT, I didn't expect my score to bulge to this extent. (Maybe something's wrong with my perception of acceptable performances, I didn't expect to clear JEE too.). Gave four interviews and finally got selected into IIMC. And even though it may sound weird, the stay here thus far hasn't really been memorable, except for a couple of things that cannot be spoken about (the IIMC insider cult!) - one that struck us as soon as we entered and another that left our throats sore. The best thing about coming to IIMC has been the good friends that I made here.

2011 also made me see some stuff that wasn't really what I was looking for. Growing distance from friends and family wasn't what I wanted to see. Last six months were a disappointment in that sense. Hoping to correct this in 2012. Another disappointment of the year was leaving some of the very goods friends in Surat.

Overall, it was a good time to be alive. Cheers.

- Ashish

A Moment in Time

Do you remember, ladies and gentlemen, the good old days of camera roll? Half the excitement of going to a trip was due to purchase of a new camera roll, and the 32 precious 'clicks' that came with it. And not to forget the constant bugging by parents not to screw with the camera and pictures. Everything needed to be perfect before a picture could be taken or a 'click' would be wasted. And then when the roll was finished, we couldn't wait to get back and get them developed, wondering all the time how the pictures would look. And finally, after a week of waiting, the day arrived when daddy arrived with the developed pictures. Oh, how lovely they looked, with such shiny rich colours! They needed extra care or someone would smudge them - those 32 moments frozen in time that would never leave you. How precious they were!

And what do we have today? We now own the digital cameras - every 12 year old has one in his mobile, and there's no lack of stand-alone cameras as well. There are so many pictures and videos taken that we hardly bother to care about storing them or keeping them in a safe place. The problem is that we thought technology was going to help us reduce the cost per photograph (and the convenience associated), but the value associated with each photo has also nosedived. At the end of the day, we hardly care about photographs. And the memories, ah well, do we care about them as well? We do! Then why don't we care about our pictures and the great moments they hold within them? Go on, ladies and gentlemen, take some moments to go through some of the 'old' photographs stored on your computers or hard drives, and maybe you'll understand what I'm saying.

Office Ka Timepass

So I find out that blogger isn't blocked in office, and I, who doesn't even write a diary regularly, transform into a blogger overnight. And it isn't exactly that I don't have other ways of killing time in office, it's just that no matter how many ways you have, you always crave to find more.

Well, now that I'm here, let me take this opportunity to share a bit of my experiences of the 10-month stay at this place. Surat. I've never lived at a single place for more than 4 years, but Gujarat was still unexplored land for me. I was really excited to begin my career just 100 kms away from the place where my father first started working almost 30 years back. (And I will admit within parenthesis that that song "Dil le gayi kudi Gujarat di.." by Jasbeer Jassi also kept hovering over my mind during my first train journey to this place, though I'm forced to omit the later experiences in this regard.).

So when I finally arrived with my friend and asked for keys, the reception guy, after going through the list of names, gave a broad smile to my friend and said, "You've got the master bedroom, the A room." As it turned out, I got a C room and when I asked what it meant, he looked this way and that and replied, "Err...come let me show you the rooms." (C room is basically the H in a 2-BHK flat, which in short means that I was royally screwed.).

I expected the HR department to consume my first 2 days, and then the work that would make my life hell. But the HR guys took a week, and by grace of God (if He exists), the work never came. (Paradoxically, my work experience certificate still fills a complete A4 sheet.). In the next couple of months, for the first time in life, it really dawned on me that I actually love to work, and work hard. But there wasn't any! So my life basically turned into going to office, sitting idle, pondering over life, coming back, passing time chatting with friends and going out to restaurants. I still hadn't figured out if I was happy doing all that. But then IT happened. My roommate left the job, and I was left alone in a 2-BHK flat. Days became longer. Solitude lead to introspection and within a week I found myself engrossed in DI/Quant stuff. The vigil that started thus in beginning of August somehow lasted till the end. There were moments of frustration when life seemed too hectic, too futile. But all is well that ends well. I don't know what the future holds for me now, but I know I will survive, no matter what.

Well, I've heard that it's nice to end a piece with a quote. So I choose the one that has been etched on my psyche, and keeps me going. As said by Forrest Gump's mother on her deathbed, "I happen to believe that you make your own destiny, you have to do the best with what God gave you."