Time to get out the Light sabres, yo!

Ah, what a wonderfully festive October we have here. Barely two weeks after one major festival (Eid), we are once again greeted by another (Diwali/Deepavali) which will arrive without much aplomb, I'm afraid on the 27th, which is totally awesome because festivals translate to public holidays, which I always look forward to every time. Just checked the calendar and regrettably there are no public holidays listed for November.

For the uninitiated, Diwali is the festival of lights, about the forces of good winning over the evil and mankind rejoicing because of that win, though seeing the world as it is today, I think the good never won at all. They were just in denial over their losing the battle and the evil forces for once left it at that and chose to remain silent. And it is almost always commemorated with the lighting of oil lamps all around the front porch at night, and visits to family and friends houses, as well as eating (yes, even people who claim that they are on a diet forgo all plans on dieting during festivals because the food is just too good - and as I might have mentioned in passing over the entries of the blog, food and Malaysians are inseparable. In fact, most people set their diet plans for after Christmas and New Years, and some even after the Lunar New Year!)

Growing up, festivals were always cool. New clothes seemed an exciting prospect, and receiving money from older people was something to look forward to despite the fact that it was all collected and put into the bank once all was over, and there was always fire works at night that you could play with and lots of smoke hanging in the air that you could inhale once the colours faded. Even the morning cartoons were tonnes of fun. These days, it's mostly about the food and the opportunity to take a rest as we would on any other holiday, and the day is no different from any other rest day because (I don't know if it is just me, or is it how it is these days) the shows on the television are either for the very young children, or the older adults. Thank goodness there is the internet! Even as a small quantity of excitement builds up during the preparation - nothing lifts your spirits more that the smell of freshly baked cookies wafting through the house, the excitement quickly dissipates into thoughts of the things that need to be done once it is all over.

I don't think we do the lamps much, either seeing how windy it can get and of course fire hazards and such. I wonder if it's too late to go and get a light sabre?

PS: Happy Diwali, people!