Diwali and evolution

change is the only constant and yet somethings never change.

lets start from the beginning. i did not realise it was diwali till about two days before the d-day. we had this event being planned, different from what i had ever done on diwali and i was honestly not excited about it at all, even thinking that the tickets were beyond my budget. but on the d-day it was fun. 8 of us got together and set-up a 2 min dance sequence. it felt nice to move to bollywood music after so long. and to go back to traditional indian finery. the event was a much bigger success than what any of us had anticipated. not only did the dinner-drinks-dance night get sold out, (this after increasing the capacity to 100 seats from 80, we still had a huge waiting list that we had to refuse but also the star performers - the spanish girls dancing to bollywood, had the whole crowd amazed by their expressions and attitude that could come only if you breathed bollywood like any other indian. within a matter of a couple of songs they had everyone dancing literally to "their fingertips" as they would say in chaste hindi. tracks like babuji jara dheere chalo, desi girl, twist, and even a bharatnatyam number made my diwali eve a never before expereince. on the whole by the speed at which the videos got uploaded on youtube, i reckon this was one off the best diwali celebrations i have had.

talking about the youtube link which i have pasted here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x1su7lCFgk, i now go to the evolution bit of this story. There was a time back in school when i would dance taking care my parents didnt take objection to my extra curricular participation. this time they took objection to the way we choreographed the dance. back in school days, pictures would take ages to develop and be shared, and now i have my parents instantly connected to my life 10000 miles away, and that too at the click of the button. and now comes the cream of it all. they put me on skype during the laxmi pujan, and i attended the aarti, the prasad, even the firework sounds. now thats what i mean by evolution. (of course i didnt get to eat the prasad, mom very conveniently had it on my behalf).

later back here on that night i attended a frnds party, and thus had the reason to do the diwali milan in new clothes. i did miss the fireworks, i.e. until today.

technically i can still say its diwali, and here is how i got my share of fireworks. this is from less than an hour ago. i get back from school at dinner time, and think i will bake some quick readymade pizza. so i put it in the microwave, put the timer to 10 mins and go to my room to change and settle down. and then i get this familiar smell, feels like i am out on the diwali lit street and there is smoke around me. i walk into the kitchen which is smoky by now, pull out my pizza which is burnt to the core by now and turn the house into one that could well be having a havan. yeah so it was a diwali and navmi havan combined into one for me.

some things never change. i will never stop forgetting. i had a similar smoky incident within the first month of shifting to pune three years ago. and diwali will never stop being the symbol of festivities, sweets and celebration for me, even if through skype. amen.