This Diwali was different than others in few interesting ways.
The biggest differentiator was - of course -Aadya! It was her first Diwali after all; but that wasn't the difference I was talking about.
We started with regular routine; i.e. started "discussing" about cleaning our home almost a month before Diwali. We talked about lots of cleaning activities like taking out winter wear, getting rid of cobwebs, discarding old items. This was our most detailed planning ever; but that wasn't also the difference I was talking about.
We got so absorbed in planning that we missed out the "doing" part completely.
The only activity that happened was - taking down curtains. Mind you, taking curtains down is different than washing them and then putting them back on.
However, that still wasn't the difference I was talking about.
We bought everything at the last moment, and some items even at the "lastest" moment (like crackers on the evening of Diwali itself); but that's not at all different. It is my normal routine.
Diwali evening started as usual; we started with important tasks first, i.e. taking selfies, ensuring camera & mobiles had sufficient space and charge, and then proceeded to lesser important tasks like pooja-path.
However, I decided to do something different this time. Instead of playing crackers in our balcony like previous years, I decided to go downstairs in the park. However.... yeah you guessed it right, this wasn't the difference I was talking about.
We had been there for almost half an hour or so, when I heard a loud noise coming from somewhere. Of course, who pays attention to any noise on eve of Diwali; so I decided to keep ignoring it.
Once we ran out of crackers, we decided to visit the temple within the society before going back to our flat. It was then when I saw that the noise was coming from water falling from 4th floor of the building. Since we stay on 5th, I mentioned to wifey "looks like someone is wasting lots of water" and walked away.
When we reached back to our floor after spending few minutes in the temple, I saw residents of our adjacent flat standing in front of lift to greet us. "We have been calling you for so long, why didn't you answer", they said.
It was then when I noticed that they had floor wipers in their hands and were standing in ankle deep water.
Moment of realization - they weren't actually there to greet us (damn).
It turned out that one of the valves on water pipe had broken on our floor and water found its way inside our flats (that's why I didn't see water coming from 5th floor earlier).
So, our rest of Diwali eve was spent mopping water out of the apartment.
Yes, this Diwali was different indeed.
However, I decided to do something different this time. Instead of playing crackers in our balcony like previous years, I decided to go downstairs in the park. However.... yeah you guessed it right, this wasn't the difference I was talking about.
We had been there for almost half an hour or so, when I heard a loud noise coming from somewhere. Of course, who pays attention to any noise on eve of Diwali; so I decided to keep ignoring it.
Once we ran out of crackers, we decided to visit the temple within the society before going back to our flat. It was then when I saw that the noise was coming from water falling from 4th floor of the building. Since we stay on 5th, I mentioned to wifey "looks like someone is wasting lots of water" and walked away.
When we reached back to our floor after spending few minutes in the temple, I saw residents of our adjacent flat standing in front of lift to greet us. "We have been calling you for so long, why didn't you answer", they said.
It was then when I noticed that they had floor wipers in their hands and were standing in ankle deep water.
Moment of realization - they weren't actually there to greet us (damn).
It turned out that one of the valves on water pipe had broken on our floor and water found its way inside our flats (that's why I didn't see water coming from 5th floor earlier).
So, our rest of Diwali eve was spent mopping water out of the apartment.
Yes, this Diwali was different indeed.
