Diwali

So I skipped a couple of days. Preparation for Diwali I suppose. 

But today, I heard about a controversy over a Diwali ad by Tanishq. I checked it out - tacky, tasteless, superficial. A bunch of pretty women in major jewellery saying, Diwali is about family and by the way definitely no crackers. 

Funny. 

How everyone seems to know what's good for someone else. 

The air quality over Delhi is proven to be from multiple other sources including crop burning in Punjab farms. 

The point is, it is not enough to "tolerate" other religions. That's a wrong premise. 

We need understanding, mutual respect. Every festival has its roots in tradition and ritual - and when you strip it bare of meaning, what's left is just dry form, a shell, and empty noise. Much like our modern lives. 

I don't mean to be despondent. But between the state governments telling not to burst crackers, another telling us not to buy Diyas and companies telling us to buy expensive jewellery but not follow the actual tradition of the festival, and a snarky article in a leading business paper about how Diwali is a festival of oils - it sure looks like someone wants to cancel Diwali. 

But hey, for the record, the fam has ordered twice our usual crackers.