Many states, many flavours
City folks give glimpses of Divali the way it is done in their home states to Radhika Singh
Shri Kamla Devi, who belongs to the royal family of Koti in Himachal Pradesh, says that her family has held on to their traditions. For them, Divali isn’t so much about fireworks and crackers. Instead they prepare their Pahadi food, with sweets like kheel and pathasha, and pathanda (something like the South Indian dosa). The men and women dress up in their traditional garments, and the women usually keep fasts as part of the ritual. The highlight of the day is the high profile Lakshmi Puja, for which preparations go on throughout the day. “Toys, shaped like animals are made out of sugar for this puja. Making preparations is a lot of fun, as the whole family comes closer,” she recalls.

Deepavali in Dundigul
Taste the Tamilian flavours and feast your eyes on bright Kanjeevaram silks as K. Anuradha brings alive the festive spirit down south
A thoroughbred Tamilian would ask another, immediately after the first cracker or firework has been exploded on Deepavali morning: Ganga snanam aachcha? Literally it means, have you had your bath in the Ganga river? Actually it is a way of asking whether one has had an‘oil bath’, symbolic of washing off one’s sins, and celebrating the festival of lights.

Divali Decor
With Divali just around the corner, its time to dust and rearrange your home decor, says Anandita Gupta
There’s nothing like the crisp, clean and often slightly incense-tinged smell of a freshly spruced up home. It’s this fragrance that makes all that tedious last minute cleaning, shining the door-knobs, extensive dusting and rearranging the furniture seem worth it. No wonder, come Divali and most of us Indians pamper our homes with a fresh coat of paint, some new bric-a-brac and some added accessories.

Id mubarak                                                                  
If Divali is here can Id be far behind? Certainly not, Id-ul-Fitr is just round the corner and the Jumma Bazaar outside the mosque in Chandigarh’s Sector 20 offers many delights, says Nirupama Dutt
Festivals have a way of making one very sentimental and that is a quality I like about them. It becomes a time to look before and after and go through the many festivals that one celebrated in days gone by. So many associations come to the mind of heard melodies and words written by moving fingers.

Mission Possible
While the world rejoices with family and friends on Divali night, so many professionals across the city remain on their toes for undoing the damage merriment causes, says Saurabh Malik

Viva Gelato!
Romancing the cream—well actually we mean the ice cream! Velvet swirls, churned fresh, drawn from exotic fruits and charming recipes are all set to be scooped and slurped.

Bon Appetit
Sweet and Salty
I don’t just have a sweet tooth, I have a sweet JAW! I can sing endless eulogies and tributes to gulab jamun, my absolute favourite. My legs automatically apply brakes if I clap my eyes on gulab jamuns and I can stuff my gob with them till I’m keeling over and decidedly sick with sugar saturation.

A cut above
City’s own Kulraj Randhawa is a busy bee. Campaigning for her first Punjabi release, the pretty lass, however, finds time to do a little promotional work for her designer friends.

FILM & FASHION
Naomi’s tantrums
While her infamous temper has let her down in the eyes of some, it has also helped Naomi Campbell ‘coerce’ respect from her fellow models.

Make-up
Your Second Skin
Make-up need not be dreaded any longer for with advanced research and technology, make-up is as good as second skin. It does not involve slapping on a pile of powder and chalky base and gone are the days when make-up was incompatible with human skin.

WEEK AHEAD Performing Art Play Festival: The Company will stage Girish Karnad’s play Nagamandala. The play will be directed by Neelam Mansingh Chowdhury. Passes for the show are available at House no 9, Sector 4, Chandigarh, fabindia, Sector 9, Capital Book Store, Sector 17 and Cable Store, Sector 9.

L.K. Pandit

Health tip of the day