Hello Thomas and Claudia, I hope you will enjoy reading this letter.
When I was young, I use to love playing with firecrackers. The thrill attached to it was on a different level. We would usually start bursting the crackers a month before Diwali, with Diwali being the ultimate night when we will be lightening the crackers for hours in the evening. I remember it use to be a fun time when kids from the neighborhood will join together at the same time. The only time I use to hate was the time of prayer. While we are not such a religious family, Diwali prayers last for an hour. It means one less hour for bursting crackers. We also use to visit people whom we will not usually visit because of our busy life.
Carry forward to a few years when we are finally growing up. Due to environmental concerns, we anyways have left bursting crackers(at least I did). Due to corona, we couldn’t even meet people. For me, there was nothing left to do on Diwali except for it being a formality.
Although this time it was different. This Diwali was about bursting crackers(a little bit), dressing up in traditional dresses, and also, I enjoyed the prayer. I think I was feeling nostalgic about the prayer for some reason. Later on, after the crackers and chilling with family throughout the day, I was meeting my childhood friends who were back in town coz of Diwali and it actually felt so good to meet everyone, some of them after years because of covid. Attaching photos for you to see. Hope to see you both really soon. Also, imagine you being in India to visit. Claudia maybe we can make you travel by water ship :P.
