Bangalore/Mangalore : Deepavali (a row of earthen lamps lit at night) or Diwali, as it is fondly welcomed with crackers on dark nights, is a 3 to 5 nights affair to Hindus all over India, with Pujas, lights, colours, sweets distribution and of course, crackers and light missiles in city.

It is the last major festival and is enjoyed by Hindu families and homes as a whole from kids and aunties to grandpas in a colony. You cannot sleep well when Diwali is around, it wakes up those who sleep to create awareness of light in heart and around the huts, cottages and houses of Indian people.
There is an official holiday too for this last big festival in the year 2010. A Sunday  is added in it, to worship Mahalaxmi (goddess of wealth) and cows (in an agrarian economy). The domestic animals in a farm are decorated with flowers and red colours and lights are waved as they look on and get fed well. The shopkeepers close an old year of accounts and open new books with “Shubham-Labha”.

The more you light up clay lamps (Panathi) the more decorated your home looks at night Mahavir Jain attained Moksha (liberation) during Diwali. (527 BC). People wear new clothes after an oil bath at dawn. They visit temples and partake of Prasad or sweets offered to God. There is music and dance in the air and neighbourhood. Crackers shout and fireworks glow from dusk to dawn in all family homes. No one grumbles about noises made or glares set up.

There are lantern lamps made up of coloured, papers in various designs, décor and attractiveness. They are put up for sale. Competitions are held by shop-keepers to encourage sales of these coloured cage lamps. Hoteliers and sweet makers yell for customers to buy their dishes and preparations, food and sweets, eatables and presnts. Companies give sweet packets to clients and employees alike. Sikh Guru Har Gobindji is remembered as he was freed from Fort Gwalior by Moghal Emperor Jahangir to go to Amritsar where people (Sikhs) received him with lights / lamps. 52 Hindu kings also secured freedom. Diwali points to inner lights in our hearts and human lives on dark nights.