Looking at fire.

Happy Deepavali to all 🙏.

It really encompasses the fondest memories of my childhood. Drying out the crackers prior to the big day, planning and replanning the order of bursting, trying to sneak one off early to light it. Ever tried lighting a fire by sparking rocks , the way cave men supposedly did? I got as far as figuring out a nail on granite makes a great spark, though impossible to direct onto a fuse. As for rubbing two sticks, all that gives you is a blisters.

When the day itself arrived, time seemed to slow. The sun dragged its feet hanging about like an unwanted guest till it was chased away by our premature fire starting. Ah the thrill and bliss of burning things non stop.

I remember ugly bits too, like the poor dog puking in the garage, panicked by the non-stop din. The brave, confident, Genghis the merciless – to small creatures, turned into a nervous wreck by the end of the night.

In those days the diya’s were just fire repositories, a locii to run back to when the firework in hand expired. The wheel has turned though and nowadays I spend some time looking at the flame.

As a serial failure at meditating, I find that this works. The primal instinct to sit and stare at a flame is so ingrained it’s effortless. There’s something to it, soon the world melts away and the mind is reset.

The Japanese have a firework specially designed for this called a Senko hanabi. It is a thread containing high sulphur gunpowder which burns slow, occasionally flaring into tiny sparkles, but otherwise just a burning molten orb which makes its way up the thread, suddenly dropping off and winking out. The children find them boring and they end up at the bottom of the pile. But to me, they make for a perfect, gentle conclusion to the day’s pyromania.