Festival Blues

It was that time of the year again and Sheela could not prevent her mind traversing along the same old path of nostalgia and depression. The sweets, the greetings, the pujas, and of course the inevitable fireworks were all part of the enjoyment of Diwali. But for Sheela, it was a nightmare revisited. Her brother had been a victim of the fireworks. His right hand had been burnt badly by a burst flowerpot.

 She remembered the fateful night twelve years back when she and her brother, Ashish, were excitedly running down the stairs to watch and light the fireworks along with so many other children in the colony. Every child in the colony was participating with great joy. But no one was prepared for what happened next. As Ashish and his friend, Nilesh, were lighting a row of flowerpots, suddenly there was a loud bang and the flowerpot burst in Ashish’s hand. He screamed in pain. Everyone left what they were doing, and rushed him to the doctor, who after initial first aid admitted him in the burns ward of a nearby hospital. Sheela and her parents had rushed to the hospital, where he was immediately ushered into the operation theatre for surgery.

Poor Ashish! He had lost consciousness because of the pain. But fortunately for him, the burns were restricted to his hand though a few sparks had singed his hair a little and left a few burn spots on his face. And the aftermath of that fateful day was that her brilliant brother had to opt for a writer for his upcoming board exams. Even with the pain and the uneasiness of taking the exam with a writer, he had scored creditably. Though he recovered completely from the accident, it was entirely understandable that Ashish developed a phobia for fire and fireworks.

Come Diwali, and he would be restricted to his room. Only after the celebrations had died down completely, would he step out of the house. This continued for some years after which Ashish made himself get over the phobia and now gave himself up to enjoying the festival with his wife and children. It should be said here, that his wife, Manju, played a great role in ridding him of his fear of Diwali and fireworks. Manju loved her husband and wanted him to feel the joy of the festival along with his children. She almost single handedly helped him to come out of his phobia for the festival. 

But it was as if the phobia was inexplicably infectious and had got transferred. Sheela still never felt any enjoyment during Diwali. She was afraid that something bad would happen if they gave in to enjoyment again during the festival. But her husband, Jagdish, and her children never could understand her phobia. And, they would go and have fun while she would make sweets and savories for them to eat. This year, after a long gap, Ashish and Manju, accompanied by their children were coming to visit Sheela during Diwali.  She welcomed them with open arms and after a sumptuous dinner, the children, as usual, wanted to go down to watch the fireworks. Jagdish got up to accompany the children. But to Sheela’s surprise, Ashish and Manju got up too to join the excitement.

“Ashish,” she exclaimed. “You are going to see the fireworks?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“But don’t you get scared? You were the one who was burnt?” she asked in amazement.

“Sheela, Yes! My hand was burnt. But that doesn’t mean that I should sit about moping about my hand for the rest of my life. I am okay now by God’s grace, am I not?”

“You said it Ashish!” exclaimed Jagdish. “I have tried my level best to get her out of her fear and depression, but the advent of Diwali brings it on again.”

“Come on Sis,” said Ashish. “Don’t let a single unfortunate incident spoil the beauty of Diwali for you. Draw colorful rangolis, dress up in your best finery and enjoy the festival. Diwali is not only about fireworks. There are so many other aspects of the festival that you can enjoy.”

Sheela realized the truth in that statement of her brother. She knew that her moping around the house during the festival was affecting the enjoyment of Jagdish and her children. She decided to change her attitude with immediate effect. And to start with, she took a few beautiful diyas and lit them in front of her house. The wavering illumination of the diyas chased her depressive thoughts and made her a joyous person again.