Around the world the last couple of months of the calendar year bring in festivities. Especially being a Hindu there is slew of traditional religious activities that happen. It is during these crazy months I enjoy the fact that I am not a ritualistic person. I cannot imagine decorating and doling out goodies non-stop for different occasions.

As fun as festivals are when you are young, it does get mundane – well at least for me they did

Fuse bead lamp

The past year, I have been truly confused about what I want to teach kuttyma. Given the way we travel around the world and the mix of traditions we bring in, I wanted to ensure that kuttyma created memories to savor.

Milk+food color painted kolam on bread

This Deepavali, we spoke about good and evil. We spoke about doing good and helping fight evil. According to her, Deepavali is the time to fight bad dreams. We wrote down ways we can help fight evil. We made our list and put it up. We plan to do it every year and celebrate the meaning of Deepavali instead of falling into the religious or commercial trap.

We did wear new clothes and enjoy goodies (I made gajar halwa, Rava panniyaram and muruku). We decorated with lights to lessen the darkness of ignorance and prayed to God to give us strength to admit we are wrong and seek the light.

It took me a while to decide what I wanted to teach and how to go about it. I did get a lot of input from great parents out on twitter and blog readers who guided me. This holiday season all of us at Poohsden wish you have the courage to fight the darkness that engulfs you and the world around you. Let there be light.