By Malvi
If the traffic
snarls are anything to go by, the Diwali fever has gripped the city. And all
the popular and not so popular market places are flooded with Chinese lights,
painted diyas, candles, colorful Lakshmi - Ganesh idols and all the Diwali paraphernalia.
Yesterday
I finally decided to brave the triple C’s (Congested, Crowded & Clogged up)
streets and markets to do my customary Diwali shopping of Diyas and other
decorations for my humble dwelling. The Sarojini Nagar market is one of the
major popular market places in festival times so I decided to begin there.
But my enthusiasm got a hit as I (driving my ‘chottu’
car) was stuck in the traffic jam for more than an hour to reach Sarojini
market which is just 10 minutes away from my office. The road blocks put up by
the police to manage the heavy traffic (and also I think to ward off terrorist /bomb
threats) were doing just the opposite with the roads clogged with thousands of
cars.
After
about an hour and half, I finally reached the marketplace with my fast
depleting “festive enthusiasm” in tow. I plunged into the sea of people and
started to look for the things I was planning to buy. After a hasty selection
of whatever caught my fancy I battled the crowd and haggled (that’s very
important!! ) with the vendors and managed to fill my shopping bags with a
score of things whose importance dies out along with the drying out of oil in the
last batch diyas on Diwali night.
The mad rush and fervour of the crowd was unimaginable in the market place with people forgetting
about the teachings of Lord Rama! (for whom the festival Diwali is celebrated). I was cursing myself mentally to have
ventured to this place and by the end of my short shopping venture I felt like
I had won a wrestling match. We talk
about ‘population explosion’ like a usual thing but the overcrowded markets in
Diwali time made me realise what it actually is.
Reaching
home after what seemed like and actually was …5 hours to be precise …my bravado
subsided into the darkest corner of my heart with a wish to never come out of
the place.
In
the night, I questioned myself --- don’t the jazzy lights seem too bright and false,
don’t the fire crackers bombard your ear drums, does'nt the smoke make you breathe
heavily and the sweets too contaminated to eat? After all this what about the
holy thoughts and worship which gave birth to this festival, is anybody
thinking about that??
The Diwali glow seems
to have been practically robbed by consumerism, over population and also 'vehicle explosion' in the country!!
By the way, Wishing
you all a very Happy Diwali !! J
