Description

After Diwali Diwali hasn’t even fully arrived, and yet the chant of “After Diwali” is already echoing in every gali-mohalla. Weddings, gauna, engagements, studies, writing, bride-showing ceremonies, debt collection, nirai-gudai (weeding), morning ghumai (walks), bill payments, EMIs, eye-flirting, love affairs—anything that’s left pending or anything one has no mood to do—there’s only one excuse: “Now, after Diwali.” At home, kids’ new-old demands are halted with it, the husband postpones outings from his tight budget with it, and the wife preserves her household authority with it: “Arre, don’t you see Diwali is on our heads? After Diwali.” And husbands, mind