Happy diwali 2016

'You seemed to have burst crackers long after your childhood. When did you stop?' I asked my mother. She was recounting her deepavali stories. Back then,even when I was young I remember, crackers 'namuthirukum'. They would have dampened and simply wouldn't burst half the time. It used to be exciting not just to buy and burst crackers but that suspense of waiting to see whether it will be a buss or  burst was an inherent part of diwali. We also used to have left over crackers from the year before. They were even more damp than the new ones.
Many years I remember amma having the practice of keeping all the crackers on plates and keeping it in the sun many days before Diwali to get rid of the dampness. She even used to keep the plate filled with crackers on the gas stove after cooking a meal. Either my mother was extremely courageous or very stupid. Whatever the case, she just had tremendous faith in the poor quality of the crackers and we did not have a single untoward incident. 'The crackers lived up to her expectations every single time.
Apparently she had been doing this since her childhood. I have heard stories of how these crackers were kept under the 'kumuti adupu' after cooking every meal for days together and how they would simply go pick up a few crackers from there and burst them outside.
Once, in her state of blindness (she has been eternally short sighted), she put her hand under the 'kumuti to pull out a cracker but found something soft. Wondering how a cracker could be so soft,she pulled it only to realise that it was a dead lizard. You can imagine the trauma it caused. There was so much trauma that she hates lizards even now. When we were living in the outskirts of Coimbatore,a place with more insects and trees, and fewer houses, I remember her chasing and murdering every single lizard in sight. Disgusting but an extremely satisfying experience for my mom. Many generations of lizards paid for what that single dead lizard under the 'kumuti adupu that diwali.
I had my share of Diwali fun at 'the apartment' for many years before the abolish child labour and oh-i-am-too-cool-to-be-bursting-crackers phase hit me as a teenager. The last time I went to buy crackers was there. It has been more than 15years since that happened.
'i grew out of crackers when my children grew out of it.' says amma.
Today after over 15years I eagerly went to buy crackers so my 10month old can enjoy Diwali as I once did. Vaazhkai is definitely a vattam;)
A very happy Diwali to all.