Let diwali make your heart spend!

WHEN DIYAS ARE LIT

‘Why all the fuss and bother?’
Nidhi asks her harassed mother.
‘Why do we have to clean our rooms?’
‘We are dusting and wielding brooms,
So that Lakshmi, goddess of wealth
Will bring us luck and loads of health.
Ajji’s cooking in a cheerful mood
Making sweets, savouries, special food.’

Nidhi reaches out to take a tray,
Her mother slaps her hand away:
‘First, we offer it to the Gods in prayer,
Only then can we eat it and share.
‘Diwali’s Rama’s return from exile,
Krishna’s defeat of Narakasura, vile.
Shopping for the celebrations
Crackers, diyas and decorations…
 
Nidhi has a nightmare that very night
Wakes up shivering, filled with fright.
Narakasura grabs her, new dress and all
While Krishna hastens to answer her call.
Then joyously she returns home,
On Rama's shoulders to chants of ‘Om’.
She jumps out of bed at the crack of dawn,
For she must bathe before the new morn.

Bursting crackers, Ajji’s colourful rangoli,
And Nidhi knows, it’s really Diwali!
Friends and relatives, melting mitthai
Wishing, greeting, just stopping by.
She runs to friends with boxes of sweets
To Roohi whose Id Biryani she often eats
And Carol who gives her Christmas cake
And any other friend, who’s waiting to take.

Rockets roar, fireworks on high,
Lamps light up the moonless sky.
Spirits soar, excitement mounts,
Happiness is all that counts.
But sparklers, bombs and all that glitter
Comes with noise, smoke and lots of litter.
Besides, terrified tots and petrified pets
Remind Nidhi of constant threats.

‘Won’t Lakshmi feel cheated and bitter?
Would she want to live in this litter?
Let us,’ Nidhi says, ‘keep Lakshmi here
By cleaning things up far and near.’

published by
Unison Publications.
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