Those days are not a matter of twenty-three hundred years ago. Ahmedabad ends at Raipur Gate on this side, Bhadra Fort on this side and Narode on the other side. Vasana or Maninagar were called other 'villages'. We people used to say 'Sal Mubarak' instead of 'Nutan Varshabhinandan' or 'Happy New Year' on that day. The first one was long and there were many pronunciation mistakes while the second one was in English and there were spelling mistakes. We all blush and say, 'Well, the big English throw has come…!' The real Ahmedabad was our Khadia. Dressed in beautiful clothes on Diwali day, Mr. Visiting the temple of Mahadevji, Ranchodji or Ambaji and after that going to eat Mathia, Sumwali and Mohanthal at home to any four or five relatives. Let those people come there and retaliate like this! Today, no one would believe that if you pick up a mutt of our time, half of it will come out crunchy from the middle, it was so thin yet delicious. Now no one makes mutts and if they do, they have to press it between two teeth and punch the beard from below. An iron rod is provided for today's Mohanthal. He should not hit the beard again by pressing it between two teeth….put it on their table and beat him! Gram flour is available everywhere. While chewing, cruel grinding sounds are heard between the teeth. We would come back after having such breakfast. Pride in the mind and strength like rust in the teeth came in the work of chewing the snack. By evening, everyone goes home. Oh yes. In those days there was no culture of going to hotels and armchairs. If we go, the whole family would reach the ground with a full stomach for eight to ten rupees. oh Even a few hundred years ago, no one would have thought of going to Goa-Kashmir during Diwali. Even, if you want to go to Vadodara, you have to stand in a bone-chilling queue in the ST bus. If a relative lives in Mumbai, one has to leave home four to five hours early to catch Gujarat or Saurashtra mail. It was not in anyone's mind that there would be a reservation. Hacking a train was no small feat. To enter, only one elbow from the whole body had to be used, the butt of which could be hit on the fore-arm and penetrated into the door of the compartment. oh In our times, the dosoi was elbowed with powerful cement strength. Don't get eaten by one of those jerks! After 'confirming' that the entire family is seated in a single compartment, the food and beverage compartments will start opening while the train is still standing at the Ahmedabad station. (Sorry…..only for 'eating'….not for 'drinking'!) There is no doubt that the pickle in the box, passing over the upper bunk, its rails would fall on the lower side and there would be forceful blows. Yes. In those days, hundreds of postcards with 'New Year's Greetings' written on them and decorated with lamps came in numbers. After collecting them all, Dadaji would make the boys sit on the bed and ask how many postcards did not have the black coin of the post account. If ten-fifteen of them come out, grandpa should collect all of them and put them in a container full of water, so that when they dry, they can take the postage stamps! Such tickets were used to mail as a counter-attack to those who received postcards. Today's Diwali has changed. Disadvantage of the advent of 'WhatsApp' is the removal of postage stamps. Now no one you meet says 'Come home' and shakes hands saying 'Happy New Year' with a pale face. Earlier they used to join hands. And if you go to their house believing their invitation to come to their house, now gone are the days of sumwali-mathiya, instead of it, there are six grains of cashew-almonds and two dozen of golden papadi in an expensive dish specially placed to show us. Back in it, it is enough to say, 'Take it…'. If you want to take the second year, the third one should not be missed! Every year I regularly message 'whatsappians' without forgetting, don't send me any new year wishes. Alas, one gets tired of wiping and wiping. The work of those people is like the audience of a Test match played in Mumbai. After eating a banana in an ongoing match, those people quite instinctively throw the peel somewhere in front of them. On whom a bark falls, it does not turn back and crack. It just as instinctively throws away the body above it without looking around. It is not his job to see who falls on top. On whom this second installment peels off, Ay does not stand up and shout 'Ye kisse fenka, two…?' Aye passes forward with a calm demeanor. This is the wonder of Ahmedabad's 'Whatsapps'. If you want to make your new year happy and prosperous with his blessings, there is no escape. It is not their job to see whether you are happy in the new year after making a 'wish'. That's it… their new year starts only after they throw a flying banana peel on you. What I don't know is that I don't have my own old or new year locations here and I have set out to clean up the village's new years?
Sixers – Wow….this shirt is newly made? – Yes. No one can fix the old one, right?
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
