Diwali...Then

Preparations started about a month in advance. The house was cleaned. Long standing repairs taken up. Maybe even a coat of paint.

Garments purchased: there were no ready mades then. No brand consciousness. We went to Petmen Tailors. Kunjuppu there was the man of the moment. He was all over the place. There was a swarm of customers. And it was still 20 days to go. He complained about all coming at the 'last' minute. Finally when it was our turn; he took the tape and measured you. If you were a little slow in turning around he spun you himself, rather forcefully - he had no time to waste. He yelled numbers and his assistant wrote it all down in the din of noise caused by the 'rackety rack' of the sewing machines. You feared what if the numbers got jumbled up but dare not question. You ventured to mention a few styles - slant pocket, no pleats, bell bottoms, flaps over the back pockets, rounded collars etc. He grudgingly nodded and drew diagrams in the bills. He cut two small triangles from the cloth stapled them to the bill and you were out. "The Trial" was one week hence.

One week later. You were there punctually for the trial. The date and time were seared into your memory.

Kal aana...thoda sa khaj lagane ka hai baki...

You saw your cloth still sitting on his shelf where he had chucked it one week back. "Liar" you muttered under your breath as you went out of the shop.

Next day...you first looked for the your bundle on the shelf...it was

not there...hope surged...may be he had it ready for the trial.

Kal aana...button baki hai.

What the heck you said...one day here or there did not matter...and you had nothing better to do in the evenings besides.

You and your friends trudged to their tailors and met the same fate. It was a global phenomenon: sab tailor lok aisa hi hai sala.

At last the trial was ready, but the styles were not the ones that you had wanted. Your dreams of strutting around with bell bottoms with slant pockets were in the wind. Getting older when you dared the question, he said: "abhi yeh hi style hai" to what ever he condescended to stitch for you.

On a parallel front, moms met each other at least a few weeks before. Ladies of the same circle compared what they would be doing so that there was no duplication when they exchanged sweets. Also each family got to eat more varieties in the bargain. There were proclaimed experts of each item, and these experts took it upon themselves to make their favorites. We children however had our own school of opinion. Only we did not air it within hearing distance of the recipients offspring. Most of us compared notes in the evening about the progress of the sweets in each others houses. What else did we have to talk about when we were doing the rounds of the tailors?

Crackers were purchased at least a week in advance. Ramji in Air India

colony - 4 number bldg - was the agent. He took orders 2 weeks in advance and delivered about a week ahead. Our immediate task was to open all of them and everyday put them out in the sun. This was deemed necessary in order to remove the moisture content and get the best 'bang' for the buck.

Come diwali day and were so excited that we could hardly sleep at all. At the sound of the first cracker we were all up. Oil baths, had our eyes glossy. Sweets (home made only then)were eaten: sweet swapping had to wait for later in the day. Fresh clothes (Kunjuppu style) were worn; crackers in two pockets; agarbathi in hand and we were out: kicking the resident rooster for sleeping on the job and chiding him for being late that critical day.