Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated around the world from India and Nepal to Trinidad and Tobago, has particular relevance to our daily work at Micro-Documentaries. On a day where we observe darkness giving way to light, we bask in the opportunity you give us each day to capture light — both the sun’s light and the light of the work you do to dispel ignorance and suffering. Our Senior Director of Productions, Preeti Deb, shares her memories and perspective on this special day.
In my childhood home in Mumbai, where my extended family lived together, Diwali was the day that the kids would delight in being woken up at dawn. In the wee hours of the morning, my sister and I would compete to do a better job of crushing beneath our toes the little bitter berries called kareets, symbols of ignorance and suffering. After a sandalwood bath, we would begin working on the elaborate rangoli pattern that my grandma had planned for us, a piece of art made from sand, rice, lentils and petals to welcome the deities into our home. And as the day progressed, we got increasingly intoxicated with mithai, a selection of delicious Indian sweets. In the evening our driveway would light up with tiny dancing flames. As we stood outside waving wands of light to make magic patterns in the air, I remember thinking how everyone was more beautiful in the light of the lamps.
Legend has it that Diwali is celebrated on the day that Lord Rama returned, after 14 years of exile and after slaying the demon King Ravana, to his kingdom Ayodhya. To help him find his way home, his people lit up the city with hundreds of diyas or clay lamps. For Jains, the festival is the auspicious day that Lord Mahavir gained enlightenment. And Buddhists mark it as the day that Emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism. In all faiths that observe it, Diwali is commemorated as a day of movement from darkness to knowledge and truth.
Diwali is a time to reflect, a time to focus on the positivity and good in one’s life, a time to spread joy. On this auspicious day, we would like to thank you for all the opportunities you give us to spread your light and we would like to wish you a year of light, laughter, love and prosperity. We hope that the work we do together helps us to inspire our viewers and ourselves to take action that results in positive change.
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Preeti Deb is Micro-Documentaries’ Senior Director of Productions. She has produced and directed films that address a range of social issues in Indian society. Continued.