Literary Safari

This is part of an ongoing series that I recently started here, “Flex Your Writing Muscles,” (installment 1) where I take a writing prompt and work it, knead it, pound it … and see what emerges out of it.

In this case, my prompt was to begin with the words “When I was [insert age]” and to write about a memory of that age. I actually started this prompt a year ago, around Diwali, at my desk at work in between tasks. I’ve been playing with it for a while and finally made a small breakthrough today.

The Times of Diwali

Diwali in Bombay

When I was seven
We drove along Marine Drive
My face pressed
Against the grimy glass
Of the bumpy taxi
In my lap a gift-wrapped box
Of store bought jalebis
Sticky orange
Sugary sweet
Circles of delight
Topped with edible aluminum foil

The streetlights
Papa and Mama told me
Were like Her Majesty’s Necklace
A sparkling string of diamonds

I half-listened
Mostly ignored
Because to me
These lights were winking stars
My new friends in the night sky.

My sister and I wore
Matching chanya cholis
Tailor made
Long red, green, and white skirts
Short matching blouses
Polyester and silky
And chamki chamki shiny shiny
Chiffon dupattas
The sequins twinkling
Like the exploding fireworks
On the horizon.

Diwali in New Jersey

When I was twelve
Mama and Papa brought us to America
Where we celebrated our first festival of lights
In a new split level colonial
On a silent cul-de-sac

Later our evening would be interrupted
With the crackle of hand-held gold sparklers
The boom boom of pink and yellow fountains
And the whoosh of bottle rockets

But first Mama polished
Her silver bowls and plates
With smelly medicinal cotton
Filled the gleaming utensils
With home made pista barfi and cashewnut halwa
Rose petals and milk
Red vermillion and grains of white rice

My sister and I wore new sweaters and underwear
Off the rack from K-Mart
She lit the candles
I switched on all the lights
And together, the four of us sat cross-legged
To pray to the goddess of prosperity
For good health and long lives

When the chanting ended
I closed my eyes tight
And conjured up
The image of the green queen
From my new textbook

In this new land
Where Her Majesty’s necklace was nowhere to be found
I pictured the upright Lady floating on an island in the water
Holding up a bright lamp in her hand

I bowed down before her sparkling flame
The goddess of my new life
And wished for a few
New good friends.