The sound of fire crackers all around. The light of lamps everywhere. Smiles on faces. Sweets, color and lots more. Diwali. The Festival of Lights. The triumph of good over evil. Diwali, a great festival, a time for celebration, a time of togetherness with family, with friends. For most of us, a time for holidays. A time for hope.
What about the other side? Diwali. A time which underlines the deep hypocrisy of Indian society. Diwali. 'Outward' shows of happiness, of lights. What does it mean to celebrate the triumph of good over evil once a year, when evil wins all throughout. What does it mean when we mostly tend towards backwardness and darkness. What does it mean?
Bright lights and sounds for a short time, only for darkness and silence to take over again. What does it mean? What does a lamp that burns brightly signify? What does a fire cracker that lights up the atmosphere and brings a smile signify? What does all this mean, when everything eventually melts away into darkness and is merely a memory.
What does it mean for Lord Ram to burn the effigy of Ravan? What does it mean when the Ravan inside all of us is stronger and will eventually prevail? How hypocritical can we be? How much more openly can we celebrate it?
And, let's not highlight one win for good here and there. Those are mere aberrations. And we all know it. Aberrations that makes us believe that all is well. But as they say, the truth is always something else.
Perhaps Diwali is a time for forgetting sorrows and darkness. Perhaps Diwali is the time to leave behind the troubles. But being oblivious for a day, for a week, doesn't obliterate anything forever. Diwali is the time to wake up. To wake up to the true light - light that forever seems to evade us. It is a time to ponder. We need the light to see the darkness. What better time than Diwali to do that?
Let this Diwali not be a time of mere hope. Let it not be a time to merely distribute sweets. Let it be a time that begins sweeter thoughts. Let it not be a time for merely lighting lamps outside our homes. Let it be the time to light the lamp inside our hearts.
An eternal optimist, I do hope we will have a Real Diwali someday. I hope I live to see that day. Until then, for whatever it is worth: Happy Diwali; whatever that means to you all. Frankly, today, it means little to me. Zilch.
Diwali. Festival of Lights. Life of Darkness.
Nothing has changed since: http://blog.samarthprakash.com/index.php?itemid=47
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