DIWALI
India is a land of festivals. There is a festival or the other in regular intervals. A festival has a great role in our daily life. It brings new joy and hope to the people, when they are fed up with the dull daily routine life.
Diwali is celebrated with enthusiasm on the New Moon Day in the month of Kartik. It is regarded as a festival of wealth and prosperity. Every year it brings a message of new hope, new enthusiasm and new ideas. People begin to prepare themselves for the festival very early. Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on this day with great enthusiasm. Diwali is considered to be an auspicious day in every family and business.
This festival is celebrated in almost every part of India. Houses and shops are thoroughly cleaned and white-washed. Crowds throng the streets and shops. Earthen lamps and sweets made of sugar are sold everywhere. New utensils are purchased days before the festival. On Diwali, millions of earthen lamps are lighted, so that the new moon night feels like a full moon night. At night, people worship God Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi with great devotion.
Some people wrongly believe that gambling is a part and parcel of this festival. They gamble day and night and money passes from one person to the other. Rich become poor due to heavy gambling.