diwali!

Its finally here...homes across the country have been scrubbed and cleaned from top to bottom in a symbolic process of removing the remnants of the old to make way for the new year. The glitz and the glimmer, the shine and the sparkle of lamps, garlands and candles light up the nights.

A kandil - a hanging lantern made of translucent plastic and paper, embellished with silver balls,  ribbons and mirrors. A light is placed inside these akash deepams ( or sky lanterns) and at night they glow at the entrances of north indian homes all across Hyderabad. These lanterns are hand made by craftsmen and women in the old city in Hyderabad, an artform woven around the festival season.

I love them, and always admired them hanging in houses during Diwali and this year, I finally made the trek to get a couple for myself. I hung one lantern outside my main door and one in my pergola in the back garden.  Its beautiful, especially at night when it glows with light, throwing colored shadows on the ceiling above. 

A gorgeous beaded elephant and parrot thoran ( doorway garland) that I picked up in Shilparaman this year. Every year, my sister in law and I go to Shilparaman - a craft bazaar in hyderabad to pick up handmade decorations and clay diyas for Diwali. Usually I pick up a traditional looking toran but this year I was really tempted by this beaded kitschy garland...

The torans and the decorations are put up as soon as the ritual house cleaning is finished. 

A beaded mango leaf toran also from shilaparaman, that has been hung above the entrance to my pooja room. A friend gave me this gorgeous clay bell toran that I hung underneath the mango leaves. 

This year I decided to paint the walls of my pooja room.. I painted a design in gold paint on to the main wall and painted the side walls in a bright  saffron yellow. 

I collect old, embellished Ravi Varma prints, and have been lucky to have found a matching pair of Lakshmi and Saraswati, embellished in pink fabric with flowers, silver  and gold zari and sequins. I bought these over 10 years ago in a dusty old antique store in chennai..

The pair above is the goddess Lakshmi with her husband Vishnu on the right. They say that traditionally " no chaste Indian wife will go to a home where she has been invited without her husband"  and although the Diwali puja usually involves only worshiping Ganeshji and goddess Lakshmi, I add Lord Vishnu to the process as well. ! :)

Ganeshji is worshiped as the remover of all obstacles, and always invoked before the start of any puja. 

Lakshmiji is worshipped as she is the Goddess of wealth and to invite her in to your homes is said to be to ask her to bless you with wealth and prosperity for the year ahead..

an antique glass painting of Ganeshji, the actual painting is done on glass...

The goddess Saraswati...

My silver idols of Lakshmiji and Ganeshji have been dressed in bright new clothes, embroidered with zari and crystals , that I picked up again in the old city..

The pooja room at night.. lit up with fairy lights...

A simple rangoli done outside the front door...

The crowds in Begum bazaar, selling garlands, flowers and diyas all piled up in little stores on the pavement.

Two sadhus I saw walking around..

Firecracker stores that have mushroomed all around the city!

A clay diya seller and his wares..