Thalai Deepavali

Unfotunate are those friends of mine who got married this year and missed their "Thalai Deepavali". Deepavali/diwali(as it is called in North India), in itself is probably the brightest of all festivals.... All around lamps are light and no street is spared of crackers for the entire week.... All around you can see a haze let out by the Man vilakku(mud lamps), and of course the smog let out by the Standard Fireworks :)....

The first diwali celeberated by a married couple, in Tamilnadu, is called "Talai Deepavali". It is one of the most special occasions in the entire year. And it was the most special in our lives also... We landed at Chennai the day before Diwali, after having soaked ourselves not only in religious piligrimage, but also in the sweat (due to the sweltering heat in Madurai). A few hours later my in-laws arrived from Palakkad.... There were two huge bags of crackers waiting for all of us, and of course the sweets that amma had ordered... After a nice talk for long time, sumptuous lunch, a visit to old friends - we were all ready .... Amma was beautifully dressed, so was the "other" amma(mom-in-law) ... The hero of the day wore a maroon kurta and looked dashing... I never saw my father so enthsiastic about the diwali festival ... We brought all the load into the cellar and began the show with a blast (a 100 wala...) After a while i shook my timidity and tried to light a flower pot from a distance of atleast about 4 feet, which brought everybody rolling on the floor with laughter. I was the official photographer clicking photos of flower pots and ground chakras...

Appa started releasing the special rockets that he had bought. Each one brought an "oooh!..." "aaah!" ... "Waaah" ... from everybody's mouths.. Soon all neighbours came out to watch the spectacular show.. We ourselves had never seen such things, and were really in awe at the beatuiful colors that were formed in the skies ..

Soon , we were joined my Krishnamoorthy mama and family. So, we took a short break, went upstairs and finished one round of sweets and savouries, in the pretext of offering them. The whole house sounded like a poultry farm.
After finished the second round of crackers, we came back tired and victorious at having silenced everybody in gopalan street with our dazzling show of showers...

Next day morning, Diwali, dawned pretty early at my home.We were woken up for a oil bath, new clothes were passed around. Dressed in a crisp white veshti and new pink shirt, the mapillai looked as handsome ever while bursting the last round of crackers..
With a flourish we ended the show with the 5000 wala... For about half a minute there was no other sound that entire postal colony could hear. After the last cracker had burst, it was another minute before even the birds started chirping....

Thalai diwali is one of the most special occasions. The attention, love and happiness in the occassion is to be experienced to be felt or understood ...