DIWALI

Here’s an old poem penned by my younger avataar…

DIWALI

Effigies of evil strut in the streets…
Loudspeakers blow, drums beat…
The blaring music, the rhythmic dance…
Carnaval is back with its mesmerizing trance!

Is it a time to be happy and gay?
Or is it just revellery gone astray?
Questions stagger in the mind…
Why does the light seek to blind?

The youth celebrate the blinding blaze
And children watch in innocent daze
As the sky breaks into another dawn
Everyone is now beginning to yawn…

It is time to sleep, you know
It is Diwali – the festival of lights!

--- Pravin K. Sabnis (November 1991)
(In Goa, effigies of Narkasura are burnt early in the morning. Due to keeping up all night, most of us would feel sleepy on Diwali day)