Deepavali

Belief has it that a demon warrior/king prayed for a very very long time to get a boon from the gods. The long meditation was for the lord to appear and grant a boon in person. Lo and behold the lord appears and asks the baktha/devotee what he wants. The lord by now is pretty impressed with the meditation and prayer and penance. He asks the desire of his devotee. Without any hesitation he asks, “I need everlasting life”. Well that is a problem for the gods. Only they are meant to have everlasting life. If they grant it then the demons would become everlasting too.
So, it was refused outright. But, there was an alternative, the god promised another boon. This time the god got the better off the devotee. He said though I may not have ever lasting life, atleast in death I must be remembered forever. This time it was granted without any appeal.

The demon king returned to his kingdom and his brutal ways. After many, many years the god who granted the boon could not tolerate his insolence and wanted to destroy him. At the point of the battle’s end he remembered the boon and made sure that the world celebrated his death. Thus we have the birth of Diwali. The so called celebration of good over evil.

The story sounds good and could have never been real. We know that these stories are mythological. Yet we believe in them. This is what would be called a willing suspension of disbelief. When we fully know that the possibilities do not exist we imagine and hope for it to be true against all odds.

Over the years things have changed dramatically. Mindless shopping, discounted undergarments and a host of other sops have recently accompanied fasting, penance, oil bath and prayers. These days people don’t leave their homes on that day to celebrate, they prefer to spend their lovely day in front of a box and decide to become idiots in front of a box. The same cinema programs, competitions, trailers, interviews by hot shot actors and live broadcast of songs.

When you see what this fuss is all about, it is easy to figure out that the myths have been sold to the media and the media in turn promotes it. There is no need to mention about the telecast of these myths on the state television. Worse still we cant speak out our minds loudly as there are parties who will drum it as hurting the national sentiments and beliefs.

We are willing to sacrifice our positivity for some obscurantist festival that dictates terms on what to wear and what not to, what we should eat and what we should not and advocates the usage of the super polluting crackers.

But believe me it is all done in good faith to keep you happy and to celebrate life with all its noise. Love life with its lies and is unbelievables.