A Crunchy Diwali !

Diwali or Deepavali दीपावली , the festival of lights in India, has different meaning for different people and animals.

What doers it mean to you?

If you are a teenaged boy, it is crackers time. The louder the better!

But if you are a pet dog, it is time to hide in the quietest corner because loud noise is traumatic for you. Even the stray dogs appear lost and go hiding!

On the contrary, if you are a woman, Diwali is the time to dress up! Apologies to all the women, Men also like to dress up but once they are drunk they can't differentiate between a crisp kurta and a crumpled shirt!

If you are a doctor on ER Duty, you dread the number of burn injuries due to fire crackers.

If you are an electrician, you are on overdrive as every household wants their home to be lit up with electric lights. You didn't get a breather the whole of last week.

If you are a baby, you get startled by loud crackers. But no one listens to your cries and protest!

If you are a Fauzi (Armed forces personnel in India), you are lucky if you are at home with family. Ghumakkad has spent number of Diwalis at sea. And so have the army personnel celebrated the Diwali in icy heights of the Himalayas or the jungles of North East!

If you invest in stocks in India, then you are singing on Diwali as the stock market always goes up during the Muhurat' महूर्त (auspicious hour) trading on Diwali. Although 2026 Muhurat trading was an exception after eight years!

If you are the LOH (lady of the house), you are busy preparing Diwali savories and sweets and decorating the house for the evening Pooja (special prayers on Diwali).

And if you are 75 and alone, then Diwali is the time for learning. Learning what?

Learning to make Diwali savories, also called 'pakwan' पकवान। 

This Diwali Ghumakkad learnt how to make stuffed मठरी mathris. Sharing below few pictures and a short video. After having made it, it was a test of patience to wait till the Pooja next day! 

                                        

I also learnt how to make Panchamrit. See the description in the picture below.

We also made namak para नमक पारा where my expertise is limited to rolling the dough and cutting it into rectangular pieces! What else did you expect from an engineer?

As they say, the proof of the pudding is in eating! Finally, I could taste the mathri मठरी . See the picture and the video below.

Special thanks to Geeta Bhargava from Agra for being my mentor at cooking.

What did Diwali mean to you? Do leave a comment.

Other Stories on Diwali

We share below some of our previous stories on Diwali.

Just Say No To Crackers - Our appeal made 11 years ago not to bust crackers!

Community Celebration - Celebrating it with Sparklers

Noise Free Diwali - Did the ban by Supreme Court in Delhi help in 2017?

Diwali and Nature's Clock - How does the custard apple tree synchronise its harvest with Diwali every year?

Celebrating Diwali With Birds - Diwali during Covid meant no visitors, no get togethers! Ghumakkad celebrated it with the birds in their natural habitat.

Hope you had a pollution-free Diwali.

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected and do leave a comment. It encourages us.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/Secunderabad/9th Nov 2026

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