For five consecutive days every year, starting from a day when the moon decides to hide giving way to complete darkness, every Indian regardless of his/her caste, creed or religion celebrates a festival called ‘Diwali’ – a festival that glorifies the triumph of light over all that is darkness and of the good over all that is evil, and one which rekindles the flame of love and hope in one and all. This festival is also a manifestation to the fact that every ounce of darkness can be outweighed by something as weightless yet strong – willed as a ‘Diya’ (traditional Indian earthen lamps); one simply needs to muster the courage to stand and walk again.

Diwali, the festival of lights, gets its name from ‘Deepawali’ – a row of lights, where ‘Deep’ stands for ‘light’ and ‘Awali’ stands for ‘a row’. Indian households across the globe, on these five days, dwell in the dazzling luminosity of these earthen lamps, ‘Diya’. However, it’s not just Diyas that contribute in illuminating the nation during these Diwali days, but also fire crackers, which light up the sky unceasingly with a million sparkles. Their blaring sounds serving as messengers carrying joyous notes of gratitude from the rejoicing masses to the heavens for their generosity.