Diwali In My New Home

Diwali in my New Home is a great read for those of us celebrating the festival outside India. Priya is in the US and she misses the festive spirit as Diwali seems “quiet” and “dull”. But as she celebrates the festival with her immediate family and includes her neighbours in the celebration, the atmosphere turns vibrant! Though it isn’t quite the same as in India, but it’s Diwali in the new home nevertheless!

I love this new release, especially because of the endnote where author Shachi describes that because of India’s diversity, the festival is celebrated in many ways and for different reasons in the north and the south.

This makes me ponder that indeed there is no singular narrative on why the festival is celebrated. In amplifying the dominant narrative of Rama’s return from exile, whose voices are we ignoring? By not highlighting that there are other ways and anecdotal reasons behind the festival, we are complicit in the erasure of alternative traditional stories. While Diwali/Deepavali is one of the important Hindu festivals, it is not synonymous with people of certain nationalities/origin. For certain sects of Hinduism, Diwali has no connection with the story of Rama or of Vishnu, and it isn’t even the “numero uno” festival on their almanac. On top of that, there are other religious groups from South Asia – Christians, Muslims, Parsis, certain Buddhist sects who do not even celebrate the festival.

So as educators, this boils down to the basic questions – whose voices are we amplifying and who is being silenced. Let the festival be all about spreading love and happiness. Let us start with choosing the right book to read aloud!