Diwali is approaching. In fact, it is almost there. A number of people must be planning about their shopping on Dhanteras, tomorrow. One could easily find bigger cracker shops displaying endless variety of crackers. A huge number of sweet shops are getting prepared for the increased and "better than previous year" sale of Sweets, dry fruits and chocolates. Idols of various sizes are being sold. And then there are people, all of us planning to clean our houses by emptying our cupboards, throwing out the broken, torn and "not in use anymore" stuffs, removing all the cobwebs on the ceiling and behind the doors etc. Well this is how we celebrate Diwali - cleaning home, decorating or re-decorating it, wishing people around and performing pooja. Fireworks, gambling and sending gifts to the near and dear ones, these complete the to-do list on the occasion of the festival of light.

I am not being cynical here, yet it seems that we are actually doing nothing more than usual materialistic celebration, routine clean up and some "not so regular, yet common" tasks in the name of celebrating a festival of huge religious, mythological and social importance. Isn't it? We know that Diwali is festival which symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance and hope over despair. I am not questioning the way we celebrate this festival. This celebration has been going on for years. We can celebrate it in the same way for many more years. However, the question is, are we truly celebrating the spirit of Diwali?

I am not going to talk about spiritual topics of "light within us" and "Good vs evil within us". Instead, I would like to emphasize the essence of Diwali in our modern and "less time, more work" life. While we are all busy in our lives shouldering various responsibilities, we tend to lose the “connect” with few people. Over a period of months and sometimes even years, such relations get rusty, perhaps even surrounded with the cobwebs of misunderstandings and complaints. I believe that Diwali gives us a perfect opportunity to remove the dirt from such relations. This simply gives a different, more pleasant touch to the celebration. It is so much about "good over evil" message associated with Diwali. Isn't it? Similarly, in the times of junk food, workstation-chair job and increased stress level, a pledge to be more conscious about our own health is as good as hope over despair.

Let us celebrate the festival of light, a bit differently. Let us not keep it to cleaning of home and surrounding which anyway is our responsibility as per Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. This Diwali, let us take out the brooms and vacuum cleaner to infuse new life in any old, twisted or ruined relation. Let us identify that one area of our lives where we have been ignorant so far and try to eliminate the ignorance in due course of time. The joy of lights and fireworks may increase remarkably if we simply add the true spirit of Diwali to it.

To me and to all, Happy Diwali.