One of the best vacations of our school days used to be the Diwali vacation.
Diwali holidays, though short, used to awaited like an Olympic gold medal that india had been waiting for many years… I distinctly remember those childhood days when we used to build Killa in my garden. Making a Killa used to be a collaborative effort. We – Sangeeta, Saaru, Chirag, snehal, avinash, parulben and myself used to make sure that our Killa was the strongest.
Killa making used to start with first getting the bricks from somewhere. That ‘somewhere’ could be other’s garden, kachrapatti, etc. That was followed by thinking about the spacing inside the Killa. Undar kitna sipaahi rakhna ye socho. Bahar se kaisa dikhna chaiye ye socho. Mixing the appropriate amount of “matti” and “paani” used to be a decider in the strength of the Killa. Then came the decision as to kitna sipaahi laana hai, kaunsa colour ka laana hai, kidhar kidhar khada rakhana hai sipaahi ko… adjoining a Killa used to be a small pond …
The joy that used to surface on our faces was incomparable. I guess making a Killa as per your expectations used to be a big thing! Now I wonder what small small things used to make us proud of ourselves! Another memorable thing was to go around the colony to see how good and attractive others’ Killas were!
Those were days when I, in my gallery and Saaru and Sangi, in their gallery, used to keep chitchatting while exploding laxmi bomb, lavangi, etc. Anaar, chakri, rocket, sound-bomb, sootli bomb fodne mein bahut maja aata tha..! igniting a rocket at early age used to be a sign of bravery! Kids used to like hearing statements like “ baccha hai , fir bhi darta nahi ..mann naa padega”..!! and the same was applicable to sootli bombs. Igniting Sootli bombs used to be another testimony to the fact that you were brave!
Playing dabba-ice-pice used to be a pleasure. And not to forget chor police. Wo roll ka chota chota dabba jeb mein rakhna… wo actual lagnewale pistol lena,….!
How can I forget the “Sursuri”! The best thing I liked in diwali fataka celebration used to be making the tree in my garden sparkle with a number of lit “Sursuris”. Jagmagaataa hua tree!!
Another thing that is worth recollecting is eating diwali sweets and chivdaa and poori… not to forget the exchanging of ‘Thaali’ with all the people you liked very much. My mom used to warn me every time I went to give a Thaali to others -“ aamaa thi khaato nahi”.. . :)…I was a foodie! So such instructions were necessary. Chori tab pakdi jaati jab White steps pe ‘Karanji’ ka discussion ho aur koi mummy ko pooche “kya manisha, ye time karanji nahi banaya tune?” And then mummy used to realize that those transmission losses were caused by me!!! :)…
Baaki sab aunties ne kya banaya hai wo khaane mein bahut majaa aata tha. Dear Vatsala aunty ki ”chawal ki kheer” mein kuch alag hi maja tha! Yesterday I had been to Saaru and Sangi’s home and it was so sweet of aunty to make “chawal ki kheer’ for me :)…
