Wednesday 11 November 2015

DIWALI - Making it a Happy one for all around us!



Diwali - my favorite festival of the year...the lights, the happiness and the whole family coming together...and as a Kid I obviously loved the crackers part of it...in fact it was the best thing for me to do on Diwali :) I remember the first year when I decided not to burst any crackers , I was 13 at that time, it was like a big sacrifice I am doing to save my mother earth!! I was proud of taking that step and I clearly remember lecturing a lot of my friends and family members on the same...I think I will always remember that as the first step I took which made me realize there's more to our lives than just pleasing ourselves and it made me feel different :)


After 17 long years, yesterday, I felt I have been ignoring a huge part of the problem. I have to say thanks to my kids in TFI for helping me realize this after all this time. We all get crazy amounts of gifts on Diwali...which we happily either pass ahead or stack somewhere in our homes to be used later and it continues year after year. We spend endless amount of money decorating our houses, buying new clothes, jewelry and what not on auspicious occasions like Diwali and then when we look around there are many more people who are just looking at our houses...smiling...they have none of it but the smile on their faces is brighter than ours!

I see small kids selling diyas and decorative items for Diwali on the roads...yesterday I saw one girl doing acrobats right in the middle of traffic...during a red light just so that some people give her money...its a shockingly different scenario than what we do in our lives. I certainly do not advocate giving these kids money to just make them happy as we all are aware of this beggar rackets operating around and who knows what these kids are left with at the end of the day...but all I wonder is how can we do something meaningful to give them their share of happiness which they very much deserve...we can share our gifts, give them new clothes but that wont really solve the problem...but yes it may brighten up their day and give them the much deserved smile for a couple of days!

All I have is questions right now...and I know that I need to take one step at time to make the situation better..but these images have triggered the process in my mind and I hope to make the festival of lights a Happy one for all around us giving it more meaning and adding value to someone's life :D





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