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Diwali in those days was a festival full of warmth and love. It brought oodles of fun for children and adults alike and everyone used ot look forward to this queen of India's festivals with eager anticipation.

Diwali has a special place in the minds of Indians even today in this hectic commercial age because it is the most widely celebrated social festival which is associated with visiting friends and relatives, sharing food and celebrating the prosperity and plenitude of harvests and foodgrains which are granted to us through the grace of god. Moreover, the magical ambience which the past decades have created around the festival in Diwali is even more enjoyable.

Exactly like it is today, the Diwali of 50 years ago also lasted almost five days but the celebration had a different nostalgic flavour. Long before its first day - Dhanatrayodashi - dawned, people would take their excited childrne for a special treat -- a ride on a decorated horse-drawn Victoria to the shops in Mumbai's Crawford Market area to buy new clothes.

Having come to this coastal metropolis in the British Raj era to seek theri fortunes, many Bombayites, who later became the affluent and famous citizens of the city, knew the business districts of Bombay like the back of their hands though the business areas in those days were not nearly as crowded as today. These early wannabe riches and fortune seekers of the city believed in the magic formula for success in this city and had the capacity to make its business culture work for them.

They were religious and fond of ornate rituals, but also progressive and able to accept new and sometimes startlingly modern views. They were the first intrepid citizens who would set the pace for industrial progress and social change in India. They accepted widow remarriage, banning of child marriage, promoted women's education and rights and generally created the mix of the best of east and west. They threw off the orthodox Brahmin community's yoke to make the city truly cosmopolitan and a home to all religions and communities.

Many Bombayites had participated in the freedom struggle and joined in the struggle for freedom. They took pride in throwing their imported clothes and British solar hats into gigantic bonfires at Flora Fountain to become a khadi-clad men and women for the rest for their lives. But these values did not stop them from making Diwali a rich festival.

They bought silks, Mysore georgettes and shimmering Banaras brocades to make Diwali clothes. Tailors came to houses and took measurements and children waited with bated breath to open the sweet-smelling new outfits on the festive day. Women brought out their copper boxes -- there were few bank lockers - containing jewellery and opened the velvet boxes to choose whatever jewellery took their fancy.

While all this shopping and tailoring went on, the women gathered in each other's homes to make delicious sweets and savouries. Buying sweets was relatively unknown then. There were besan laddoos, chaklis, sev, chivda, anarsasa, shakkarparas, potato fudge, milk barfi and other goodies made in large quantities and stored in big dabbas, hidden away from greedy children.

Kalichaudas or Narakchaturdashi came after Dhanteras. That night, people would hardly sleep with the excitement of the coming days of fun already beckoning to them. At four before sunrise, they would be wide awake and ready to kill the demon of hell, Narakasura, with the blessings of Krishna. Narakasura, the demon of darkness, was represented by a bitter little fruit called kareet and men would crush it under their feet in all homes and make their families taste its bitter juice.

Every one would then put the tilak of victory on their foreheads and would take an oil bath before the sun rose bright on the autumn morning. A temple visit, a breakfast of the mithai and hot, coconut-covered pohe and we were ready for neighbourhood visits to friends with thalis full of sweets, covered with lacy tray-cloths and Diwalis festivities would be in full swing.

Laxmipuja was another exciting day. As the new moon of the dark night descended on the city, millions of lights and paper lanterns shone out and the business district of Bombay became a noisy bazaar of traders and buyers and a veritable fairyland for shoppers. Sightseers in taxi and horse buggies inched their way through Zaveri Bazaar and the silver market. The illuminations there were a sight never to be forgotten.

Traders, jewellers and shop owners would throw handfuls of silver coins and pictures of the goddess Laxmi into every buggy or taxi and children would scramble to collect as many as they could. Every home had its own puja, with rangolis, sweets, oil lamps and a dinner which consisted of several vegetables, rice and dal made luscious with a dollop of home made fresh ghee.

The new year or Padwa, and the following Bhaidooj, a day for brothers and sisters, were days for new clothes and more visits to cousins and aunts and presents and sweets to take home.

But the greatest memories of Diwali fun which live on in the minds of those who celebrated the first Diwalis after independence are these. Firstly, the spirit of camaraderic generated by the Diwali spirit. Secondly, the hand-made paper lanterns with colourful papers, paint and gold trimmings hanging outside every home. Thirdly, the exciting hunt in the shops for something new to buy for the house each Diwali and the profusion of fire crackers. And lastly, the elaborate Diwali feast eaten in silver thalis.

In those days Diwali celebration showed that people could afford to live well. Eating well and celebrating festivals with a full heart was not tantamount to showing off wealth but only gaining a rich experience. Many people then were well-to-do but never seemed to flaunt money like a dangling ornament as people seem to do today.

Women wore jewellery to look good but not to boast about their possessions. They made wonderful feasts because food was for sharing, not because they could afford to have so many varieties of food. Diwali meant a spirit of generosity, a sense of enrichment and family unity. People proved these values to their children more by practice than by sermons or words.

Diwali remains a special time even after fifty years because each year, the magic of these four days brings back the nostalgia of those simple, uncomplicated joys of bygone days. Diwali, 50 years ago, was full of love and learning and a quivering excitement about what was yet to come next. Many Mumbaites still retain some of the innocence and joy of those happy, special years in India's history!

Illustration by Dominic Xavier

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