Liven up your home
One can generate festive fervour without spending oodles of money, 
says Renu Manish Sinha
AS one prepares for the evening of dazzling fireworks, glittering lights, brightly coloured diyas, one cannot help wondering if the house looks the part. Okay, it wears a fresh coat of paint and doors and windows are gleaming too. But decoration is much more than that. It is about giving festive touches that are distinctively yours. Just wait, you don't have to fish out money from your nearly-empty kitty to embellish your house with the festive look. You can always let your imagination run riot.

Present Trappings
By Gitanjali
tantalising gift hampers of festive goodies displayed in the market may be just the stuff you’re looking forward to gift your neighbours, friends or near and dear ones, but before making a decision bear in mind that all these items are uncomfortably clone-like. If you wish to present something special that’ll bear no repetition and will vouch for your personal touch, try out these innovative presentations, which you can improvise upon.

Divali.com
Does the festival of lights leave you in the dark when it comes to gift options? How about tempting your family and guests with some mouth-watering Divali-special sweets? Do you want to send a gift to a special someone far away but don’t know how? Quit warring, the answer to all your Divali-related queries may be just a mouse-click away.

Creative Rangoli

Liven up your home
One can generate festive fervour without spending oodles of money, 
says Renu Manish Sinha

AS one prepares for the evening of dazzling fireworks, glittering lights, brightly coloured diyas, one cannot help wondering if the house looks the part. Okay, it wears a fresh coat of paint and doors and windows are gleaming too. But decoration is much more than that. It is about giving festive touches that are distinctively yours. Just wait, you don't have to fish out money from your nearly-empty kitty to embellish your house with the festive look. You can always let your imagination run riot.

First of all pick a theme, the kind of look you want your house to have on the D-Day. Select a colour scheme. Red, maroon, gold, bronze are the seasonal colours which can truly reflect the spirit of Divali. You should try and incorporate these colours in every thing — from your candles to dishes, flowers and drapes. These will not only liven up the place but whip up festive fervour, with a dash of colour.

Begin at the beginning, that is with the entrance. Make it truly inviting and welcoming. Colourful buntings, small colourful kites that match your Divali colour scheme, rangoli with lots of glitter, terracotta diyas, Ganesha, Lakshmi statues, flowers — all these can be used to lend a traditional look to your entrance.

Put floating candles in traditional urlis (round, flat-bottomed terracotta or brass vessels), fill it up with petals and surround with lots of hanging brass diyas, made of earthenware.

Alternatively, you can fill the vessel with marigold flowers and place a gleaming Vighneshwar in it to ward off evil spirits at the entry itself. Light lots of candles of every shape, size and hue. Candles and diyas should be the only source of lighting on Divali day. Diffused lights lend a warm glow to the ambience of the room.

Once inside, make your furniture look different for this special day. Dress up your couch by draping it with bright fabrics. It can even be a old saree, or a silk dupatta or even your jamavar shawl.

The side-tables too can be interestingly adorned with brocade dupattas. Even your old silk suits can be cut and stitched to make a bright table cloth.

You can also use block-printed cotton fabrics, bright durries to loosely cover your chairs. Old zari or gota borders can be tacked on to colourful cushions.

Colourful dupattas tossed over your curtain rods can create a special effect. They can be also used to brighten up a corner window. Colourful metal bangles can be used as curtain-holders or gatherers.

Leave no corner of your house dark on the festive evening, lest Lakshmi hesitates to enter. Take thin strips of bamboo chicks, paint, dye or stencil the strips with acrylic or glass colours. You can hang them anywhere to liven up the place, at your entrance, on a window side, or use them as a frame to highlight an alcove or a dark corner.

One can also paste cut-outs of old Divali calendars or stick terracotta Ganesha or Lakshmi statues within the frame. Embroidered torans can be hung imaginatively at different places

The market is full of brass and wooden knick-knacks. These can be arranged in groups on the coffee table with a colourful candle at the centre. They can also be hung either individually around the ornate corners of your carved furniture or on walls, alcoves, corners at the side wall of your entrance. Hanging brass diyas, little brass and wooden bells, wooden or stuffed figurines any artefact or handicraft can be used to add to the festive decor. All one needs to do is to let oneself go and get creative. You can also drape bells and trinkets around a moss stick.

The dining table laden with Divali goodies should also wear the festive look. If you have a white or a plain table-cloth, do liven it up with bright bandhni dupattas or old gharchola sarees. You can even create a divide with a bunched or tied up bright saree between the vegetarian and non-veg dishes.

Using a piece of bright, bold block-printed cotton cloth to lay your table, coordinating it with the colour scheme of the evening can lend a sparkle to the evening.

The centrepiece should again be a part of your Divali colour scheme. Flat-bottomed copper or brass vessels, filled up with scented water and floating candles or diyas lend a festive touch to the table laden with goodies.

Painted bricks or medium-sized stones, wrapped with silver or golden colour foil, coloured bajri etc can be used to make rangoli in the garden with a border of painted diyas and candles.

Now that the whole house wears the Divali look, the hostess, too, should put on her brightest (but comfortable) outfit to welcome the guests and get ready to receive compliments.

Present Trappings
By Gitanjali

tantalising gift hampers of festive goodies displayed in the market may be just the stuff you’re looking forward to gift your neighbours, friends or near and dear ones, but before making a decision bear in mind that all these items are uncomfortably clone-like. If you wish to present something special that’ll bear no repetition and will vouch for your personal touch, try out these innovative presentations, which you can improvise upon.

Since mithai dibbas are passe, you can pick ‘n’ choose from a host of containers like earthern and ceramic pots, glass bowls and jars, ethnic cloth pouches and cane baskets to deliver the festive offerings. These can be treasured even long after.

Earthern pots, preferably shallow ones with a lid, can acquire a festive look if painted in ethnic designs, using bright primary colours or wrapping them with a piece of discarded bandhini dupatta. The look can be further brightened by sticking gota or mirrors on the design, and tying a mauli or a gota string around the mouth of the pot.

For a more chic look, paint the earthen vessel black and while the paint is wet, sprinkle or blow some gold or silver dust on it. You could even use sparkle tubes to make three-dimensional, abstract designs on the pots.

Simple silver foil used to wrap chappatis can lend a zany shimmer to your gift. Crush the foil and then lightly straighten it out before sticking it around the pot.

Plaster the inside of the pot with foil too before filling it up with the desired eats or the festival-related stuff such as crackers, candles, diyas and candle-stands. Mithai no doubt is one of the must-buys for the occasion, but it gets little appreciated by the calorie-conscious and the upwardly mobile gift-receivers, who find it “eeeks, too sweet for comfort”. These blissfully or knowingly “unaware lot” happily munch away handfuls of high-calorie nuts! The fact, nevertheless, remains that the rich man’s fruit now occupies centrestage, upstaging the traditional treat.

The filling could be the all-time favourite dry fruits or just plain walnuts and roasted peanuts if you’re tight on the budget. You could add packets of mishri and colourful varieties of saunf and supari to fill space. Home-made delights like coconut ladoos and freshly baked cake is another cost-effective and delectable option. Mouth-watering cookies, biscuits, chocolates, eclairs and nutties, the best bets for children, can be presented to them in earthern gulaks or tin money boxes.

Fresh fruits attractively arranged in a cane or (less expensive) bamboo basket and wrapped with a cellophane sheet is most suitable for the elderly lot or the fitness freaks. Any gift item can be a delight for the receiver if it is slickly packed. A glass bowlful of goodies can be packed with any flourescent wrapping sheet. Place the bowl on the centre of the inside of the wrapper and gather the corners of the sheet together and tie it around with a gota string to get the right effect.

If you wish to steer clear of all the traditional fanfare, and want to say it with flowers, add one of those frosted fancy candles (the market offers a mind-blowing variety) to your bouquet.

Howsoever you wish to express your greetings, make sure that gift-giving becomes as cherishable an experience as gift-receiving, for “the manner of giving shows the character of the giver more than the gift itself.”

Divali.com

Does the festival of lights leave you in the dark when it comes to gift options? How about tempting your family and guests with some mouth-watering Divali-special sweets? Do you want to send a gift to a special someone far away but don’t know how? Quit warring, the answer to all your Divali-related queries may be just a mouse-click away.

rediff.com offers include sweets, cakes, flowers, fire crackers, dryfruits, chocolates and candles or diyas. There are beautiful sarees by Benzer, Hina, Milap and Vijaylakshmi. This site also offers kitchen appliances, watches and home appliances. You can also gift designer jewellery.

Any gift that you send via the Net can be delivered anywhere in India or abroad and can be paid for in rupees or dollars.

expressindia.com is the site for the superstitious. Find out the shub muhurats for buying books of accounts, Lakshmi puja and beginning new accounts. It offers online rangoli designs. You can make your own rangoli using the samples given and even mix colours on the screen. This site also gives information regarding the myths and legends surrounding Divali.

divalimela.com is the place to be for those with a sweet tooth. It has recepies of delicious sweets like gujia, kheer, mitha khoja, kharipudi and lapsee. If you want to brighten up a friend’s Divali, send him/her fresh flowers that can be ordered from this site. And in keeping with the spirit of Divali, this site even has a online card game!

For more recepies visit bawarchi.com, which as the name suggests, is a complete cookery site. It has recepies for spicy khaja, shankarpala, mitha khaja, karanjia, boondi, spicy sev, ghevar and anarsa, among others. Apart from this, archiesonline.com has special e-cards for Divali.

So go ahead and log on to your favourite site to make this Divali a memorable experience.

—Prerana Trehan 

Creative Rangoli

If the thought of your rangoli design being 'disturbed' by some ' not so careful feet' disturbs you, then try these mediums for making rangoli this Divali. Soak a handful of rice overnight. Grind it in a mixer to make a fine paste. Fill it in a icing cone and make simple or intricate designs. Let it dry for an hour. Colour can also be added in the paste to make your rangoli more colourful. Use water soluble colour to soak rice grain and use these different coloured grains for making rangoli for decorating tables and the puja place. Urad, moong(dhuli), moong (whole) and masoor dals also come in handy. Coloured chalks wrapped in a piece of damp cloth can also be used for making designs. Poster colours too make a good medium for relatively permanent rangoli designs. —Geetu