I was sitting alone, wondering what to do.
Diwali this year was supposed to be spent alone. No one could make it home this year. All busy in their work life. Trying to make ends meet. The festivals did not have the same meanings now. The world turning into more practical places now they say, getting far away from the culture people followed.
I was sitting in my room watching television, because that is what was left to do alone at home.
Suddenly I hear a knock at the front door. I get up to see who it was. I opened the door and saw my old friend Nishant.
"Hi, er, um, Nishant. Where have you been all these years? We lost all contacts. We even went to your place in Jabalpur to meet you, but there was no one there, come in now, what a wonderful surprise!"
They went. Fireworks audible from the outside celebration. Children in the neighborhood, still had the exhuberance and excitement of the festival.
They sat down and without any notice of time, ate delicious meals and talked about how life was when they were little children.
"I still remember the Diwali we last celebrated together." Said Mona
" Yes, even I remember, the beautiful rangoli you made outside this very door, and then the crackers and the fireworks. Our whole group gathered and celebrated. I still remember how close we all were, and that brought me back here on Diwali."
"Yes, where were you all these years?"
" I went to Ladakh to meet a friend of mine there. A beautiful desert it is, the landscapes just makes your day better. It is just heavenly. I was there is Ladakh and I fell in love with the place and I stayed there. With the people, with the beauty of mother nature. "
"That's wonderful"
"However, this Diwali I had to meet my old aquantances as after this Diwali I might not come here much often."
"Oh, but why?"
"There aren't reasons to everything, sometimes situations make you helpless." He finished with a smile.
Then they ate sweets and celebrated Diwali like it should have been.
A month later, when going through the contacts Mona had of her friends, she came across Nishant's.
She gave a call to that number and then found out that the number was someone else's.
She became curious, so she called another friend of hers who happened to be in Ladakh.
"Hi Nupur, this is Monali."
"Mona, how are you!? It's been ages, what are you doing, where are you right now?"
" I'm doing good, and at home. I just called to ask whether you have Nishant's contact number? He visited me on Diwali and gave me a number but the number now says that it is someone else's."
" What rubbish are you saying?"
"I beg your pardon."
" Nishant's been dead for almost a year now. Last year after Diwali, we met and decided that this year's Diwali we would come to your place and celebrate. However he died in a land slide that took place three days after that."
Being helpless and unable to understand what to do Mona hung up the telephone.
Years passed and she did not think of the incident again.
And preparing for Diwali of 2017, a thought came to her mind.
That Diwali was a wish in Nishant's heart. He wanted to spend Diwali with her and it was the last thing on his mind. So his wish was finally fulfilled and that is what Diwali is about. Spreading light, and happiness and leading towards a more content life each year. If it was a dream or hallucination. She didn't know. If it was Nishant or not, but it was sure to her that Nishant was now content and happy wherever he was.
-Monali