We brothers loved Diwali, the festival of lights. We looked forward to the small package papa brought for us - the box of sweets! When the sweets were gone, we craved for another box.
And yes, who can forget the crackers? We always felt they weren't enough for us to go to the common playground & burst them with the other kids. Those days were tough, papa used to buy us limited crackers within his means. Other kids found it funny that we came to enjoy Diwali with six to ten crackers.
A boy laughed "Hey, that's all, and then what are you going to burst tomorrow?"
I felt a lump in my throat. I looked at my brother. I could see a small tear drop form in his eye. If only Papa could buy us some more crackers, I could give him a fitting reply.
The next Diwali, we burst crackers on our terrace, just the two of us. We noticed an elderly aunt watch us enjoy. At the end of it, she remarked, "It was beautiful, you made my day!" She used to tend to her sick father day after day with devotion, her world revolved only from home to office & back. We felt happy that day; we saw her smile! She sure made our day too.
Today, years later, Diwali has a different meaning. Today we can afford to buy as many crackers as we wish from our earnings, but we never do.
Today we do have a lot of sweets during Diwali, but we never savor them as we used to then. The beauty of life truly, lies in small packages.
Thanks Papa.
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