Diwali : Unity in Diversity!

India is a country of varied customs, culture and beliefs. We even celebrate Diwali differently in various parts of the country. Let's have a flavor of all here...

Published: Wednesday,Oct 29, 2008 09:46 AM GMT-06:00

Nishtha Singh

Diwali is traditionally known by the name of 'festival of lights", for the common practice is to light small oil lamps (called diyas) and place them around the home.We celebrate Diwali as Lord Ram came back to Ayodhya after defeating Demon Ravana and spending 14 years in Exile. Although Diwali is a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism, many legends are associated with Diwali. Southern India marks it as the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. In Jainism it marks the nirvana of Lord Mahavira, which occurred on October 15, 527 BCE. The Sikhs celebrate Diwali for a different reason as on this day, the Sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind Ji, was freed from imprisonment along with 52 Hindu Kings.

The word Diwali is a shortened form of Deepavali, which comes from the Sanskrit word dipa : meaning row, and vali : meaning lights.

On this Diwali we are taking you all on a Tour of India to get to know how people celebrate the Festival of Lights in their respective regions. Here are few stars sharing their Diwali Traditions and customs with you all..

Lets starts our tour of with the flavour of South With …

Sumeet Raghavan :

Please share the traditional way in which you celebrate Diwali: Diwali, unlike many other festivals kicks-off even before the sun rises and is always special as it is our last festival as per the English calendar. Usually, we get up at about 4 or 4.30 in the morning and start our day with a perfect oil bath. We then have our first stint of the day with crackers and have a gala time. Later in the day, we call on, or invite friends and relatives and have a big get-together. We usually go to the Shivaji Park Ground by noon and burst crackers till we drop dead. For kids, Diwali is special as they enjoy bursting crackers, sporting new dresses etc. But this year, I have told my kids not to use the louder versions of bombs, as our country in itself needs a more quieter and peaceful Diwali this year. From Southern tip of , lets move towards North with…

Mohit Mallik :

Please share the traditional way in which you celebrate Diwali: I am not celebrating Diwali this time as my dadaji passed away this year. However, Diwali for us back in has always been one memorable get-together. We invite lot of friends and relatives every year. We prepare all kinds of dishes and savories in the Restaurant we own at the Defence Colony Market. Our whole bungalow is usually lit up as a Dulhann and the day starts with a puja at home, followed by a puja at our shop and restaurant. One particular tradition followed by our family is that we wake up our colony people every year at exact 2 in the mid-night by bursting the 20,000 ladi wala pataka. We are famous for this in our colony, so much so that now, it has become such a routine that all in our colony get up by 2 to witness the 20,000 wala ladi taking off (laughs).

Now towards the Western part of in Gujrat with…

Hiten Tejwani :

Please share the traditional way in which you celebrate Diwali: Diwali starts with a morning puja at home. Being the festival of lights, our entire house is lit up with diyas. We invite whole lot of friends and relatives and have a gala get-together. Apart from this, I don’t think we follow any particular tradition as such; it is the same way in which you all celebrate Diwali.

And to share the customs and culture of or Kolkata ,we have with us…

Sharad Malhotra :
Please share the traditional way in which you celebrate Diwali: I am off to Kolkata for two days to celebrate Diwali. We will have a puja at home, followed by a puja at our office. We will have a family and friends’ get-together in the evening. This is one day without non-veg and drinks, so we will all be well behaved in celebrating Diwali (grins). Otherwise Punjabis love to eat and drink. At night, I will probably hang out with friends. We have the Theeka ceremony which we call Bhai Dhooj on 30th. Since I will be leaving for Mumbai on 29th, my sister will probably come a day earlier to spend the occasion with me. So I am looking forward to all great things this Diwali. Basically I am happy that I will get to spend time with my family.

Here we complete our tour of , Wishing all our Readers of Tellybuzz a very prosperous, safe and eco-friendly Diwali !

Concept and Author: Nishtha

Reporter: Srividya Rajesh

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