Let There be Light

So....since I don't have time to write for this blog specifically, I will post articles I write for the Ashoka Wheel and other little tidbits as I write them. Enjoy :)

Once a year, all over the world, night ceases to exist. Pulses of colored light punctuated by bright flashes dispel the dark. Explosive pops disturb the silence and joy erupts in the streets. Schools and companies are given holidays, families congregate, gifts are exchanged and there is much merry making. No, this is not the fourth of July. This is a festival that originated in India and spread to all corners of the globe with the brain drain of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Think of it as Christmas, of a more brown persuasion.

In India, spending peaks during this festival of lights. There is a mad rush for clothes, sweets, jewelry and furniture. Stores are checkered with half-off and buy-one-get-one-free signs. Houses are adorned with rangoli (traditional designs drawn with colored rice powder) and diyas (traditional lamps). All of this is topped off with the latest Diwali-themed Bollywood blockbuster of the season. After all, who better than Shah Rukh Kahn to usher the Goddess of prosperity across our thresholds? As America tightens its belt and prepares for a recession, let it take comfort in the knowledge that many of its nearly 2 million Indian Americans will be loosening their purse strings this month.

The festival of lights has begun in the US as well. This October will mark the sixth year Diwali has been celebrated in the White House. And who knows, perhaps this year the White House staff are setting aside a couple of extra lamps to celebrate the US’s nuclear deal with India. The warm glow of energy-efficient Diwali lights cannot be contained in the political scene. It seems to have caught the media’s attention as well. Last year, NBC aired its now famous Office Diwali episode.

Colleges all over the country, Emory included, are gearing up for the impending festivities. A night will be dedicated to it. Guests will partake of delicious, traditional Indian food from a mid-priced desi restaurant while being entertained by Indian dance and song. For some it will mean naught but a night of wild dancing to funky bhangra beats for the price of twenty dollars. But for most, the celebration of Diwali means much more. It is a chance to share a part of their heritage with the rest of the world and with each other.