Special Deepavali 2014

Diwali or Deepavali?

This Diwali is a special one for me, not only because it is “thala” Diwali for my blog; some thought-provoking facts about Deepavali I came to know, only this year.

Being born and grown up in a Farmers family, in which most of them are “periyar (EV Ramasamy- an atheist leader) followers”-I never had big Diwali bash during childhood days. Actually it was forbidden. Our only important festival was/is Pongal. There is a myth circulating in Tamilnadu, that Narakasuran was a Dravidian, so we should not celebrate his demise- Deepavali. I don’t have any intention to discuss about that big politically motivated Aryans- Dravidians divide, in this post.

Getting married to a religious orthodox Maharashtrian changed the dynamics. I started understanding and enjoying the festival. Immediate post marriage we signed a bilateral treaty! Diwali celebration at Nagpur and Pongal festival in my village. It went on successfully for three years. Then transformation from Anesthesia to Critical care changed the way we celebrate functions. I had to break the deal; you can imagine the consequences.

Forced to celebrate both the functions at Chennai!

Nearing Diwali, I noticed at my work place- a corporate hospital in Chennai - suddenly I became popular, everyone started wishing – good morning sir, good evening sir, how are you sir…

“Tube light” as always I am- took some time to realize all these gimmicks were to get Diwali bonus.

Life came to almost stand still even a week before Diwali, the monsoon rain was partly responsible. Air-conditioning repairing work, bike servicing, bank work, online purchase delivery all got delayed; complete paralysis of day to day activities.

It was a night mare thinking of going out for shopping; stampede was imminent. Even commuting to work place was more difficult because of migrated community going to their native places, created chaos at roads- as it happens routinely before every festival.

Coming to the most important reason why this Diwali is so special …

Our intensive care unit became busy approaching Diwali which is unusual. All our registrars requested and took leave on 22^nd; that was a request we could not (didn’t dare to) refuse! That enforced one of us - the three consultants, to cover the whole day. I volunteered to work that day because my wife warned me that I should be at home on 23^rd whole day -main Diwali day for her. Actually why we celebrate Diwali? - I innocently asked her. She starred at me and said “how many times I told you, -you tube light (again!), this time I will write it down for you”( but you know what- I asked her at least twenty doubts when I read that- tube light became no light!).

That Story…

Deepavali in Sanskrit means Row of Lights - Deep (lamp) + Avali (row)

Different mythological stories have described different stories for each day of Deepavali (total 5 days).

By the end of October month kharif yield (harvest of crops planted during south west monsoon- June) comes in houses and markets.  As rainy season is over and the homes are full with stocks which are at risk of getting stolen from the devil components. Hence, lamps are lighten up throughout the month (till Karthigai Deepam) to save houses from theft at the same time to celebrate the prosperity.

However, over the years and also from mythological stories it has got more auspicious meaning than traditional. So now the Diwali festival is celebrated for five days starting from thirteenth day of the dark fortnight of Hindu lunar month (Aswin) to second day of bright fortnight of Hindu lunar month, Karthik. (A lunar month starts with no moon day; first 14 days till full moon day is bright fortnight; the second 14 days from full moon to no moon day is called dark fortnight).

 First day is Dhan -trayodashi or Dhanteras (Dhan – money: Trayodasi – 13^th day). Two stories for this day…

                                                  

The first story is about 16 years old son of king Hima, whose horoscope predicted his death by snake bite on fourth day of his marriage (which was on Dhanteras). The whole day his wife did not allow him to sleep and kept all her precious jewels in a basket surrounded by lamps at the entrance of their house. When snake came to bite him, due to the light of lamps and glittering of ornaments it could not see anything and went back. Thus life of Hima’s son was spared and the day gets its importance for buying gold, jewels and utensils.

Another story is about lord “Dhanvantari”, God’s physician.

When ocean was churned (Samudra manthan) by gods and demons, lord Dhanvantari came out of sea with a pot full of amritam on this day. Hence the day of Dhanteras, lord Dhanvantari is worshipped by doctors for success in treating patients.

 Second day is” Narak Chaturdashi” 

Early morning on this day, Lord Krishna killed the king Narak (naragasuran) who had become demon by troubling his own people. It celebrates the victory of god over demon, good over bad, morality over immorality and this is the real meaning of Diwali celebration.

Third day- Lakshmi Poojan

Third day is no moon day (Amavasya), last day of Aswin month. The prosperity which came after narkasura’s death or crop yield is worshipped in the form of goddess Lakshmi; hence the day is known as Lakshmi poojan. It says the darkness of ignorance is overcome by the light of knowledge.

Fourth day is Bali-pratipada, first day of new lunar month, Karthik.

 Story is about big hearted king Bali, who was king of all three kingdoms (prithvi – humans, padhal – demons, akash – god).  To get freedom from Bali gods urged lord Vishnu to help. Vishnu came down as Vamana (seventh incarnation of Vishnu) - small child Brahmin. Vamana asked Bali to donate him 3 feet land and Bali promised to do so. Then Vamana kept his one foot on earth, next on padhal and third on akash; thus got all three kingdoms from Bali. Over joyed with Bali’s large-heartedness Vishnu blessed him to be as dwarpal (Guard) of the kingdom; Bali stood at the door with polite welcoming gesture. Celebrations on this day are in remembrance of Bali – who had the humility of god’s favor with kind heart towards needy.

Another story for 4^th day, is about lord Krishna. On this day Krishna lifted mountain, ‘govardhan parvat’ and provided shelter to people from heavy rains. Krishna protected his people as guardian, hence the day is celebrated for love of one’s guardian, fathers for daughters and husbands for wives (or wives for husbands- in modern world!).

Fifth day is Yama-Dwitiya (Bhai Dhuj)

As the name goes it is known after ‘Yama’, god of death.  River Yamuna - sister of Yama -takes promise from him that on this day he would not take life of any brother. So this day is celebrated as a bond of love between brother and sister.

Coming back to earth…!

My day (2nd day of Deepavali) started (too) early at 5 am as Lord Krishna! With the same motive of fighting bad- I needed to work more than 12 hours on that day; though that was not new for me, being in the medical profession for so long.

By the time I finished routine rounds, became 12 noon. The day went on busy.

Unit chief dropped by for a few minutes, probably to make sure that I was not feeling lonely and frustrated on a festival day. During our chat, his view regarding Diwali celebration, struck me. In his apartment he could not convince the residents to spare some money from busting crackers to orphanage donation. And he was telling about one big company- which is monopolizing the whole fireworks industry- cracker mafia; where child labor, bonded labor and unsafe working conditions are prevailing. Hence by spending money on crackers apart from noise and air pollution, we are promoting the mafia (just opposite of mythological story).

ICU -work continued to remain hectic till evening. A ventilated patient needed MRI, which is done outside our hospital campus; shifting, monitoring during procedure took away some time. A new admission, elderly traumatic paraplegic lady – bed ridden for past twenty years came in with symptomatic hyponatremia; needed work up and central line placement. Discussing plans with primary consultants, few line changes and transfer out summaries- I had to function as both registrar and consultant.

Continuous crackers sound and whatsApp messages from GMKMC-91 made sure that I did not forget Diwali.

Only at 8 pm I was bit free. Felt hungry; couldn’t think of having food outside, festival day – at least dinner at home.

Was restlessly waiting for 9 pm, so that I could leave. As you expect a twist in the story, got a call from ward saying “one elderly lady is progressively breathless – needs ICU admission”.

Received her and noticed complete haziness on left hemi thorax on chest X ray, no mediastinal shift. Did USG chest- massive pleural effusion. Clinically she was symptomatic; needed diagnostic and therapeutic tapping urgently. Sent coagulation work up. I could not see myself going home before midnight. By the time I settled her it became already 10: 30pm.

Started driving back home. Twenty kilometers.

Roads were empty; looked like a battle field with the remnants of the crackers and the smoke it created.

When we finished dinner exactly it was 12MN.

The important Diwali day started; have full day-off to celebrate!

Happy Diwali!

Cheers,

26-10-14,

2am.