Nivedita Basu, senior VP at Atrangii Group celebrated Diwali with her family in Mumbai and got some pictures clicked. However, she did mention that she misses the Diwali in Delhi, which she says was bigger and brighter.
She said, “Diwali was always about getting new clothes and going to meet family. We didn’t have that many friends because my parents were very introverted in a way. So for us, it was always being home, lighting up the house, burning crackers. To me, now, Diwali has become a social thing and also an opportunity to play cards.” “I celebrate Diwali in Mumbai now, but it’s not that big an event I feel. It’s much bigger in the north. I come from Delhi; I’ve seen brighter Diwalis. Here it is just about lighting lamps and going to friends houses for the Diwali parties,” she added.
And though she is not that into gifts, her husband makes up for it. She said, “I’m not a very gifted kind of person. I think my husband Yadu makes up for it. He has a ritual of gifting. I think the fact that I’m alive and kicking and I love my friends and I’m there for them is enough. And gifting can happen throughout the year, so why should it be specifically for Diwali?”
“And more than splurging on mithai on Diwali, I prefer giving dry fruits. One, it’s healthy and sweet, and diabetes is like such a prevalent thing now. I know people who have diabetes from the age of 8 to 18. So I’d much rather avoid sweets. Or if there are, then I would prefer dates and fig sweets, which don’t require sugar,” she added. Nivedita has also voiced her opinion for a cracker-free Diwali and said, “More than anyone, it’s the animals that suffer. I remember when we used to have dogs in Delhi; they used to get so scared and petrified that they would just like to be crying and wimping, and it was so painful to see them. And even for old people, I think today, the less the sound and noise, the better it is.”
- Advertisement -
She also takes it as an opportunity to get dressed with her whole family and get some family portraits clicked. “The fact that the whole family dresses up in Indian wear and we get to click a family picture, which is like a rare occasion because all of us remain so busy, even the kids at the school and classes and us with our work and travel. So that is one occasion when the whole family is together and we dress up traditionally and we click pictures,” she said. A favorite Diwali memory? “I think for us the last favorite Diwali was when we celebrated with our father and mother. I lost my father a few years back, so that was one time when we all would be super excited. In Delhi we have bungalows; we used to light it up two days before Diwali; make sure we have enough crackers and do a show like how you have in foreign countries where the whole locality kind of comes and sees the fireworks. So we used to be that fireworks place where we used to burst a lot of crackers. That was our last memory of Diwali together,” she ended.
