Celebrating Diwali

Impromptu Diwali get-together in the China Hut

Banoo Apa came loaded with biscuits and potato chips today. Naheed Siddiqui brought imported chocolates. Rakhee Bansi brought flavoured pedas. And Urmila Sinha brought Diwali prasad from the puja she had at home last night.
Thus we celebrated the biggest Hindu festival of the year in the best secular traditions of the Club. Diwali was yesterday. Being a Sunday, we could not celebrate together. Today, the ladies more than made up for what we missed.
A bigger and more formal celebration now awaits us on

Rishi with his grandparents

the evening of November 3 (Sunday) at Juhu Beach (ref post of October 19).

Rishi (r) goes looking for a mouse

As reported earlier, Shekhawat has matched the Club’s budget with a personal contribution of like amount (never mind if this is his treat for a recent pension hike) that would effectively take care of 50 per cent of the party expenses.
Raising our festive spirits today, Bijoy Gupta’s grandson, Rishi sprung a surprise by dropping into the China Hut. This is his third visit in as many years. Since his birth, he has unfailingly been keeping his appointment with the Club on his annual visits from London.
Over time, we have had the pleasure of watching him grow into a lively and talkative little tot.
Rishi’s present fixation is the “three mouse” inhabiting his house. He therefore wants to be a cat when he grows up. He does not like dogs, even as they are “more big and strong”. He even took his “dada” (grandpa) to a nearby hedge suspecting that a mouse could be hiding there. When told that there were many of them, he scooted.
Gupta’s problem with Rishi is one of communication – a common complaint with doting grandparents failing to interact with kids born and raised on foreign soil. “He speaks a kind of English I cannot catch,” Gupta admits. “I do not understand a word he says. But he perfectly understands whatever I say, even when I am speaking in Hindi.”

Karun Sharma:
This is truly Diwali celebrated in the family spirit. It spreads across to the generation of grandchildren.

Bihari Milwani:
Now Gupta-ji must go to a convent school and learn how to understand his grandson. The fact is, I am also facing the same problem.