SONG FOR THE DIWALI GLOW

HAPPY Diwali, dear readers. It's another opportunity to renew our lives with faith, hope, and charity.

- RENUKA NARAYANAN

If we open our hearts to it, Diwali can refresh our spirits and energise us. I once saw a gallant example of faith and hope in Mumbai. A beggar carefully lit a single diya to illumine his patch of pavement.

Equally powerful is a memory of Haridwar at Diwali. A gaunt, dusty farmer set a solitary diya afloat on the Ganga. His reverence and dignity stopped my heart.

What pain and hardship did he want the Mother River and Mahalakshmi to heal? Or perhaps he offered thanks? Who won't feel moved by such poignant sights? Food is integral to our festivals. As a fan of food history, I keep noticing interesting things about what seem to be festival must-haves. I read, for instance, that ghee helps heal stomach inflammations and ulcers. It is rich in butyric acid, "a monounsaturated fatty acid that reduces inflammatory conditions, reduces seepage of undigested food particles, and aids in repair of the mucosal wall".

This tidbit of medical information ties into a curious fact about a Vedic paathshala over 400 years old, which I visited in the ancient temple town of Kumbakonam in the Kaveri delta.

There, I discovered that the arduous lifestyle required for learning the Vedas by heart came with its own health risks.

The course is very rigorous even today in such old-style paathshalas-eight hours of lessons a day for eight years with only two holidays a year.