She’s hoped, dreamed, planned and plotted all this year just
so they can both land up at home in Chennai and surprise the family – by their
sudden, joint visit on Deepavali day!
She’d saved up leave and money and booked heavily discounted airline
seats. And here’s the hardest thing she had to do – work on and finally convince
younger sibling Ananya, the more stolid and less excitable one (chalk to her
cheese) into falling in with her plans. So then, why would she want to kill the
surprise by letting the family know in advance of their trip, no matter what Ananya
says?
Thankfully though, now, at the airport, Ananya doesn’t pursue
this line of conversation. She busies herself by ordering a coffee and
lamington. “I prefer to wait for authentic Indian sweets”, she says firmly and
rather haughtily, pushing the plate away as Ananya waves it temptingly under
her nose. “You can get Indian sweets even in the shops here, you know,” says Ananya
reasonably, but she pretends not to hear. She doesn’t want to
hear!
****
Having already been through two flights across multiple time
zones, normally, the last leg of the journey is the most tiresome. But not
today. She whiles away the time by letting her imagination run riot down memory
lane….
Although it’s been 10 years since she was home for Deepavali,
she can almost smell the pungent, chemical odours of the firecrackers, see the
hazy fog that seems to prevail in the city on Deepavali day. She can feel the
anticipation that starts days in advance, when people start bursting firecrackers,
buying new clothes…all the Deepavali preparations. And then finally, the early
morning wake-up on D(eepavali)-day (that is if they were lucky enough to
sleep!!) What with firecrackers going off all night and having to get up at the
crack of dawn for the traditional bath, sleep has never been big on the Deepavali
day list. And then, of course the food, without which no Indian festival is
complete. Sweets dripping ghee and
sugar, garnished generously with fried almonds and cashews, scented with
cardamom, saffron and the best spices. The crisp fried savouries that melted in
your mouth! She practically salivated at the very thought…..surely all the time
and work she’d put in to making this trip happen was worth it.
****
She can barely sit still during the short tax ride home! But
even as they were turning into their street, she starts to deflate slowly. The
smoky haze is still absent as far as she can see (something that she had
subconsciously noticed during the entire tax ride, but which she acknowledges
only now). She can hear just the odd firecracker going off in the
distance. Given that it is Deepavli morning,
surely, there should be more action than this?
Then finally, they were home! She knockss on the door,
stepping smartly over the elegantly drawn, traditional kolam at the entrance.
Dad opens the door and starts in surprise: “See who’s here…”
*****
“What do you mean, there are no sweets at home? And where are
the firecrackers? Even if you’re all too old, why isn’t anyone else in the
apartment building or our street letting off any?” she demands rather rudely,
glaring at mom and grandmother, hardly half an hour later. The pleasure of the
sudden homecoming has already been diluted.
“Oh, child labour and pollution”, dad says, sauntering over
to her. She gapes at him.
“Well, the fire cracker manufacturers were using child labour
to make them and bursting them does create pollution, so this year, we, the
educated middle-class have boycotted them”, he says with a touch of quiet
pride.
“Besides, there are so
many special Deepavali day programmes on TV that you can happily watch them all
day long without wanting to do these other things,” chimes in mom.
“Well, what about the sweets then? Eating them is definitely
my own business…!”
“Oh, Dad’s cholesterol levels are high. And your grandparents
have diabetes so, this year, we decided that we wouldn’t make any”, mumbles mum,
already foreseeing and dreading her temper tantrum. “Of course, if only we had
known you both were coming…but don’t worry, we can run down to the shops and
get some, nowadays, they are as good as the ones we make at home…And I am sure
we can get some new clothes for you.”
Ananya says in a very expressionless voice: “And don’t
forget, the sweets are full of sugar and calories, whether they are home-made
or bought at the shops. Even if they are made in India”!
Ah Deepavali! Is there anything else left of it?
“Well, come on, come
on, the traditional baths aren’t good for our sinus problems, so we’ve skipped
it. But you don’t have to”, says mum in a placating voice.
So this is what she travelled across two continents for. At
least, she thinks, I am with family on Deepavali day, surely, that is surely the
most important thing.
But she knows she will have to work on Ananya, possibly for
the rest of my life, to regain lost credibility and authority…and that she may
never be successful.