Sweets for the Sweet, Inside and Out
Here in Mumbai it is Diwali and the sweets, fireworks, and flowers are swirling around the city in a smokey haze. The monsoons have sadly passed on and left the air quality wanting and the streets unwashed. Had I arrived to this two months ago, I would have much more of a problem with it, but now the unpleasantry seems a matter of fact, and who would dwell on it when there is so much more to capture your senses?
Diwali is a bit like New Years and Christmas combined and for days nothing is organized normally. The name is drawn from the Sanskrit word Deepavali, meaning “garland of lights”, and the celebration lasts about 5 days. It is a time for gift giving and hanging lights from buildings and terraces. Each days asks for a different sort of gift to be exchanged, and there are a whole set of customs and legends attached to each day. For example, one days is for giving gifts to family, one to husbands and wives and so on and so on.
For me, Diwali has been a bit like Christmas away from your family. There’s a party and you might get some of the sweets that over flow, but the real sweet being exchanged is the strengthening of the sort of ties that enrich a lifetime in a place like this: a gift to a co-worker, playful gambling with friends and family, or a gift to a partner.
When I first arrived in Mumbai the place seemed a mess, and it still is. Though staying longer, I am beginning to think that while the streets are neglected, on a personal scale people of all sorts are not, and maybe on some level this sort of human-centered delegation of time and energy makes much more sense than some of the cold order and distant pleasantries that make western cities and holidays what they are.
Of course I am writing from the outside looking in, and I have on some sort of turmeric colored glasses that give everything a delicious golden glow. There are sweets everywhere, here and in other countries, being passed back and forth constantly for both genuine and empty purposes alike. Everyone wants to focus on the taste.
