The festival of lights leaves darkness behind – piles of waste, regret of things undone, unfulfilled wishes, comparison with celebrations in better times. It is an exercise in meaninglessness. She wonders about the fakeness of pretty masks, and hollowness concealed by colourful decorations.
“It is all because you don’t absorb positive things. They just bounce off the surface.” Her partner opines.
But hadn’t he been finding fault with her for ages? A festival does not change anything, just conjures unrealistic images of happiness.
She walks through streets to see decorative lights being taken off. A bunch of enthusiastic kids are making the most with last of their firecrackers. She thinks about the ashes – a life that could have been, before walking into the drugstore to buy antacid. Festive meals are not good for their health any more.
This is the barrenness of harvest or pestilence.
Reena Saxena 
I really enjoyed this. Diwali and other holidays–so much below the surface–and I think, too, people often feel let down after it’s over, reaching for the antacids or whatever.
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We often mistake a kind of intoxication for happiness. The after-effects cannot be good.
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This is exactly what Bjorn asked us to write- a beginning, middle and end. I love the complete picture you paint with the words and also with space between each line.
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Thanks for noticing the spaces 🙂
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I really love how you have written this in the aftermath of Diwali while I also feels that it describes a relationship coming to an end.
The mundane remark of antacid is perfect and pulls me back to reality.
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There is an underlying process of ageing – such thoughts arise after a lot of experience.
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Beneath the masks and frivolity lies reality … sometimes bleak. Well written.
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Thank you, Beverly!
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I love that you’ve written about Divali, which is different from Halloween, but still arouses feelings about ‘fakeness of pretty masks, and hollowness concealed by colourful decorations’, which you carefully juxtapose with the protagonists’ thoughts on the relationship with her partner.
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Thank you, Kim!
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creates a picture of a relationship in 144 words, I particularly like the detail about buying antacid!
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Thank you so much!
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