The festival of lights is around the corner and again Mumma Thush has made no "palagarams" ie kuih-muih. Quite a renegade mum me, will be offering up store bought rubbish for the festive season. Divali will be muted for us this year but for DD's sake we will get out the ole sparklers and let her have a go with that.
Last year she picked up the burnt out sticks and burnt her fingers and was furious with her father - somehow blaming him for her fingers. This year am sure she will find another scapegoat for her misdeamenors. She asked us what she is getting for Divali and we told her that she will be getting a whole lot of love. She replied "I get that every day what?".
I remember as a kid getting so excited when my grandma arrived on the train from Parit Buntar with huge tins of muruku, laddu, nei-urundeh, chippies, ghee biscuits with a cherry on top and other such sweet meats for all of us in the 'city'. She usually arrived 2 weeks before Divali and lined up the tins in the 'secret place" -NOT. We would be constantly nicking into her tins the entire 2 wks and by the time the big day arrived there would just be some crumbs at the bottom of the tin. We would always have open house on Divali day between 11 and 4pm and inevitably end up fighting the effects of rain which could always be counted upon to pour just as the guests started to arrive. It was all part of the fun of Divali. Our new clothes always ended up torn and muddy before the day was thru. One Divali we hired caterers who set up stalls around our garden. The ice-kacang man was our favourite and by the end of the evening we were wearing salwar kameezes with a touch of ice kacang...actually more than a touch - a whole swirl.
The festival of lights celebrates the victory of good over evil....may all our lives always be testament to the victory of good over evil. Happy Divali to All.
