Missed you on Diwali!!!

I remember our last DIWALI when Akhil was in his element.He had special fireworks that Sriram, a dear friend and colleague had given him. These were apparently left overs from IPL. He was so excited with them that he even called Sriram to check whether he had more.We had cousins over with their kids and Akhil was the 'big brother' around blowing these gorgeous huge rockets that lit the sky and left stars behind, leaving his little cousins in awe.

Today,the small effort that we put together from Beyond Carlton on a 'fire safe Diwali' message, left me with a lot of satisfaction.
Could we have done it better, of course we could? What was inspirational was the immediate willingness of various folks to work-in, which was most gratifying. From Nitin at Beyond Carlton to Radio Indigo who ran capsules to Bilat at Ogilvy who designed posters and leaflets to Akhil's friends who went around the city from cracker shops to restaurants to clubs,spreading the message. Stuff like this, with various people volunteering,almost seems therapeutic and in a way seems to reduce our pain.

At home, as expected,we did not celebrate Diwali,like we did,all these years.Friends and family were sensitive to our pain and we didn't have the calls in the morning wishing us.No sweets came home nor did we feel like sending any.The evening was tough and Arpita, Akhil's sister defined the evening, when she said, she did not want even a candle lit, when I suggested the same.Coming from someone like her, with her challenges, in a way sums up our day yesterday!

We looked up into the sky, as the fireworks showered stars above and wondered which star he was and just hope, he is safe up there!
Missed you Akhil!