Deepavali is just around the corner and we can literally FEEL the excitement in the air!
This time of the year is what everyone looks forward to. It’s another chance for us to celebrate, dress to the nines, and eat all the amazing Indian food with our friends and families. Of course, like any other festival, every Malaysian family has their own little tradition during the Deepavali festivities.
Here are just a few of those traditions and nostalgic things we remember most from our childhood!
1. The INTENSE shopping sessions in Little India
Don’t get us wrong, we love visiting our local Little India, be it Brickfields, Tengku Kelana, Penang’s Little India (we could honestly go on and on…), it’s always fun to check out what these places have on sale!
However, things get EXTRA chaotic during Deepavali season, and the shops get super packed with tonnes of people doing last minute shopping; it gets kind of suffocating at times!
With your mum bargaining for lower prices on one side of the store, and your aunt calling you to check out clothes from the other side, things can get pretty stressful.
But hey, we always got an amazing outfit at the end of those intense shopping trips. Totally worth it!
2. Getting an arm workout while making murukku
Remember this?
Source: Pinterest
Yup, making Murukku is always a workout when you use that! The amount of force you need to exert just to squeeze out a little bit of dough is unbelievable!
To be honest, even after years of practice, we’re still exhausted every time we make them even to this day!
3. Two words: MUTTON CURRY
Let’s be honest, everyone looks forward to that delicious mutton curry your patti/ammachi cooks every year. We gobble it up every single time!
We eat it so fast, it honestly concerns our relatives… they’ll always give us that “concerned-yet-impressed” look every time we basically ‘vacuum’ all that mutton goodness with our mouths!
4. Getting so scared of burning your fingers every time you played with sparklers
Okay we admit it, we were huge scaredy cats during our childhood!
Most of us were convinced that if we didn’t hold our sparklers carefully, our hands would literally catch fire. No joke.
5. Dancing around the house with your cousins
Ok lah, we still do it to this day, but it felt extra fun when we did this as kids!
That moment one family member decides to put on an Indian song, every single one of us would immediately flock to the living room and just dance like a group of maniacs!
6. You were too excited to sleep the night before Deepavali
Yup, Deepavali was such a huge deal for us as kids, we couldn’t wait to wake up the next day so we could celebrate!
7. …and feeling like a zombie on Deepavali morning
We don’t know about you but it was nearly impossible for us to wake up that early in the morning for Deepavali prayers! Nevertheless, everything would be fine after changing into our new clothes and eating some delicious breakfast!
8. Having movie marathons and watching those logic-defying action scenes
Deepavali’s the time when ALL the Indian movies come on television.
It’s definitely tradition to binge watch Bollywood/Kollywood/Mollywood (etc.) movies with our families for the whole afternoon after a big lunch! And you can definitely bet we love watching those amazingly dramatic and OTT action scenes that wouldn’t make any sense IRL!
9. Getting pinched on the cheeks by all your aunties
“Aiyooo, when did you get so cuuuute?!” was always followed by a good, hard pinch on the cheek from any auntie in the family. Meanwhile, there we were looking at our parents for help while our faces were getting abused like:
10. Going straight for the food as soon as you visit a relative’s house
You bet the first thing we do after saying hello to our relatives is make a dash for the amazing food they cooked up for Deepavali! So much food, so little time!
11. Wondering when you’ll get to wear a saree
Well, this one definitely applies to most girls! When we were little kids, we were always so taken aback by how beautiful sarees looked, but were told that we had to wait until we were older to wear them!
It was really frustrating every time we heard this phrase, “Next year, girl” by our mums every year. I just wanna wear a saree, ma! Why cannot?! 🙁
12. Making a kolam and worrying about messing up halfway through
Don’t get us wrong, kolam-making is always fun, but it can get pretty stressful especially if you’re using coloured powder. You definitely need some major focus for this!
Source: YouTube
It was definitely a challenge trying to stay within the lines when colouring in the kolams we made. We would literally hold our breath so we wouldn’t accidentally blow the powder away, too! So intense!
What about you guys? What childhood Deepavali memory do you remember the most? Let us know in the comments!
Also read: 11 Nostalgic Things Malaysians Who Celebrate the Mooncake Festival Will Remember
