Zamaana badal gaya, as they say. Aur uske saath Diwali bhi.
Ab Diwali greetings ko le lo. Greeting cards have gone the Siberian Crane way - they're a rare sighting. Instead it's the Diwali SMS or now, MMS. Aur ismein bhi alag alag type ke log-baag hain.
a) Wholesale variety: These are the folks who message their entire phonebooks, coz after all they're on a 50 p per sms plan - may as well make use of it. Never mind if some of the recipients are clueless about who the hell the sender is...
b) Designer variety: Ordinary 'happy diwali' and 'best wishes for the new year' messages won't pass muster with this lot. They take extra time and effort to come up with something creative. Or, wait for someone else to - and then promptly forward it!
c) Reply-only variety: Yeh log khud message nahin bhejte but if they receive one, will take the trouble to reply. I fall in this category :)
d) Bhayaanak variety: "Happy Diwali. Have you filed your Income Tax Return for AY 05-06? If not pls file it by 31st Oct 05..." Yup, the I-T dept just discovered the joys of spamming!
Diwali - Then & Now
Other ways in which Diwali has changed for People Like Us...
* Then: Rui ki battiyan, mitti ke diye.
* Now: Wax waale bane banaye khareed liye.
* Then: Ghee waale laddoo-barfi-halwe khaane ke din.
* Now: Chocolate hampers, sugar-free mithai are in.
* Then: Atom bombs, 10,000 ki ladis were cool.
* Now: Anaars, chakris and phuljhadis rule.
* Then: Problem - is saal client ko kya gift bhejna hai
* Now: Solution - Hamari company mein ab gift lena manaa hai!
* Then: Saal mein ek baar bacchon ke kapde aate the
* Now: Ab to har hafte mall visit mein Diwali manaate hain
I'm not nostalgic about the old days - except for the home made samosas and gulabjamuns which sadly, are missing from the Diwali mithai ki plates that neighbours now exchange.
In every other way, now is an improvement on then. And yes, the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' remains. But there is more awareness - more efforts to contribute to charity. More than one yuppie couple I know has taken the trouble to make a donation of toys and sweets to an orphanage.
So things are different - but it's still Diwali
Until next year, wish you peace and khushhaali!
me 2 missing diwali :(
ReplyDeletebut not just all that stuff...
then: all the guys (n gals) from the colony with whom we used to go on cracker bursting spree a month in advance of diwali
now: they're all as far from home as i am , maybe more. crackers even on diwali day are few and not too loud.
then: looking forward to colony aunties who'd come over to give mithais and then getting upset at folks when they repackaged those boxes to forward on to other friends
now: on low sweet diet. both my folks as well as the aunties are fast growing old and missing us kids with the sweets waiting for someone to eat them
then: the whole joint family attended... 10 of us kids fighting over the huge set of crackers.. which never seemed enough.
now: the crackers are there but few ppl to light them. the elders are there but no noise anymore :(
the only thing that has remained is the paper cards. i insisted with my dadaji to send me cards on all occasions and refused to accept any e- or m-greetings. unfortunately, my friends prefer not to wish than wishing thru a paper card :(
nice post... brought back tonnes of good memories ... thanks :)
Glad to know fire crackers are still in.
ReplyDeletehi. happy diwali!
ReplyDeletei am a regular reader of JAM. good job that u guys are doing.
liked your blog too. diwali has changed so much.
i am a journalism student in Mangalore. do check out my blog at http://dbhasthi.blogspot.com when you get the time.
keep up the good work
And Britannia Greetings follows Cadbury's Celebrations
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteJust went thro' ur post ! Gud comparisons ... the days where we used to get early morning diwali wishes on our landline telephones are no more !
I guess things do keep changing... thats the only things thats constant,.... and next diwali could even throw up ksome more surprises.. whom know...
ReplyDeleteBelated wishes !!
Diwali hampers are now made of chocolate sauce, hazelnute coffe powder, oreo cookies and hershey chocolates. So much for Indian DIWALI!
ReplyDeleteAnd let's not forget the lights now come from China.
this deepawali i was wonedring what was Lord Rama doing those fifteen days between killing Ravana (Dussera) and coming back to Ayodhya(Deepawali) considering the fact that he flew back by Pushpaka Vimana
ReplyDeleteVery true picturisation. I remember when I was a kid we used to have new clothes in Diwali, and when the school started. And as I grew up things changed and we litereally go out for shopping now and then...
ReplyDeleteTRUE... VERY TRUE
ReplyDeleteAapko hum subhi JAMmers ki tarafse
ReplyDeleteA very Happy Diwali
Hi Rashmi,
ReplyDeleteVery well put...
I hope you had a wonderful Diwali..:)
Happy Diwali and thanks for sharing good information on diwali festival. I am agree with you that now a days diwali is celebrated differently form past years. Now a dyas diwali is not only indian festival but this festival is celebrated in all other countries of the world and NRI People also send online diwali gifts to india to near and dear one.
ReplyDelete