Cracker Pooling is Cool...

Now I'm not very pro-crackers on Diwali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali ).I think there has to be a better way of celebrating than having cordite hanging around the air for days afterward.

But I've noticed that as the night progresses and I see everyone around me bursting crackers, I start feeling like I made a mistake by not buying crackers. I guess it's the boys-will-be-boys reaction of exploding things that kicks in. In fact every Diwali since I've reduced bursting crackers I always go back in with a slightly unsatisfied and not feeling particularly happy for taking a stand and helping in reducing pollution.

But this time will be different! This time six people are getting together to buy crackers. Now the logic is simple - pooling resources of four separate families to buy crackers means that it gets way more economical, we're all able to buy ALL the crackers we've ever wanted to and of course getting together on Diwali would be fun as well (especially as this will be only the second Diwali in my life that I won't be spending at home. And the first time in 2006, all of us outcasts got so depressed by not being at home that we drove to Goa to recuperate!).

I didn't go to buy the crackers but seeing the HUGE horde of crackers that the other poolers got in two bulging boris (hindi term for BIG sacks in which cement and such commodities come) was awesome. Everyone indulged all their childhood fantasies and bought every strange cracker possible that had been refused by their parents when they went cracker shopping as children. So we have a 125 rockets one-after-the-other launcher, screaming devils, so many roman candles that I couldn't count, sack full of assorted bijli bombs, hydrogen (?) bombs, ladi, sparklers, chakris, individual rockets... I mean the list is huge. And we were all so excited with the crackers that we actually set them out and had a photo session around them. I don't have the photos right now but will put them up here once I get them.

Its awesome and I can imagine that Diwali is going to be spectacular. Though I will miss Mom's Chhole Bhature that have become a sort of tradition for Diwali dinner in my home.