DIWALI DIWALI DIWALI

MMost of us have many happy memories of Diwali. Carefree, joyful times spent in the company of family and friends, made more exciting with new clothes, an abundance of festive food and fireworks. We have enjoyed the Lakshmi puja, Bhai Dooj and visiting homes gaily decorated with diyas, lights and rangoli

So what made those Diwalis gone past special? Here, Indian Link asks community members what made the festival truly memorable for them. In this yaadon ki baraat, some recount happy times, others tell of scary incidents, but all are wonderfully nostalgic and we hope, bring a touch of light and laughter to your own celebrations this year.

Mandeep rana

My fIrSt DIwAlI

Uzma Beg

My very first Diwali was in the year 2003.

Coming from Pakistan, I had had no previous exposure to this festival.

But the very first day at work as a broadcaster on Indian Link Radio, also coincided with the Festival of Lights. My first ever radio show therefore, was on Diwali. No wonder it is my most memorable Diwali!

It is memorable for another reason, though. My co-host that morning, was my colleague Khalid Malik. Two Muslims, and both

Now how’s that for Australian multiculturalism?!

As we got down to work with our carefully prepared playlist of upbeat songs, the phone lines lit up. It was a barrage of listeners calling in to wish their friends and family Happy Diwali. There was much fun and laughter, and the positive energy was infectious. We got completely caught up in the joy of it all… I enjoyed myself thoroughly. We ended with, you guessed it, plenty of puppies and jhappies!

What a happy first show it was for me. I felt lucky to have got acquainted with the listeners in an atmosphere of joie de vivre, and that with me since then, and to the hundreds more who have joined in through ten more Diwalis, I say, thank you, and Diwali Mubarak! Khalid Malik has since moved back to Pakistan and made a name for himself in the entertainment industry there. How I would love to have him back on my show on Diwali this year to mark the tenth anniversary of our first appearance together. Are you listening, Khalid miya? Diwali 2013 will be a special one for Uzma as she clocks up ten years behind the microphone at Indian Link Radio, a full decade of non-stop diva-style dimaagchaat-buk-buk. Congrats, Uzma!

One of our most memorable Diwalis is when my wife Simran and I took our ten-monthold daughter Ashna to India during Diwali. The poor babe got such a fright with the patakas on Diwali night that she caused quite a panic amongst the family members. She squealed non-stop as the firecrackers went off outside. Of course we thought she would get used to it shortly, but no! The louder they got, the harder she cried. Everyone ran helter-skelter to close the doors and windows and cover her ears and block air spaces with towels and sheets. But all the poor darling did was turn redder and redder with the constant crying. As for her mum, she turned redder and redder as she tried hard not to cry! And me, I just stood there wondering whether to cuddle my two girls in protection, or storm outside and give the pesky teenage revellers a piece of my mind, or drag a quilt out from somewhere to further soundproof the doors... or just eat another piece on burfi in resignation. It was one heck of a long Diwali night before the noise subsided and the fruit of my loins fell into exhausted sleep.

And if you have had a ten-monthold, you will know the kind of exhausted sleep Simran and I fell into as well!

Many friends tell us that one of their fervent Diwali wishes is to be able to take their kids to India to see an authentic Diwali. Diwalis in Australia are so sanitised, they complain; no patakas, bad mithai, no extended family... our kids must see the real thing. But then I remember Ashna’s first Diwali and wonder, will your kids really enjoy it?

This Diwali will be a special one for Mandeep Rana and partner Dimpy Singh, as their Terrey Hills Restaurant Urban Tadka wins two awards in as many months (state level and national level Savour Australia 2013 Award for best Indian restaurant ), in its second year of operation.

nAl

Amitabh Mattoo

My most memorable Diwali experience was in 1975, at my home in Srinagar in the beautiful Kashmir valley. We lived in a neighbourhood that had Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist and Hindu homes right next to each other. Unlike today when Kashmir has become synonymous with violence and conflict, in the 1970s the valley was synonymous with religious and cultural harmony and togetherness.

On the morning of Diwali in 1975 (I was 13 years old then), all the children in the collected money from the elders and then went to buy the best fireworks from nearby Maharajah bazaar, which was converted into huge fireworks supermarket. And in the evening, instead of celebrating Diwali just in our own houses, everyone, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhist and Hindu families, assembled in the grounds of nearby Amar Singh College, ate together and then watched the spectacular display of fireworks. didn’t matter which faith we