Diwali in Ontario, Canada for a person who spent his formative early adulthood in India comes with many memories, mixed emotions.
First Diwali in Candlestick circle-2016
Remembering the first Diwali celebration we had at Candlestick, October 2016. A family friend and mentor of the Canadian journey had been kind enough to come with his family and share a meal and do some readings. For that evening, we chose Ramchandra Guha’s – India After Gandhi.
We remembered the events of 1984, when we both were in Delhi. 31st October 1984 and what happened before and after that has defined our generation in many ways.
In the years before moving to our own house in Candlestick circle, we used to stay in the Ovation building near Celebration square.
We used to have community parties in the building and some veterans of Indian origin wove their fabric of music, fun and food into memorable moments. I remember one friend’s mother who told- whether I am there or no, you all please keep celebrating Diwali together, and meeting each other.
Diwali Parties in different parts of the World
Remembering the celebrations of Diwali in Oil Clinic of Tripoli, Shara Jraba clinic and the housing of colleagues, and our weekly dinners at Safir restaurant near Martyr’s square made me reflect on the Years gone by.
In “Who will cry when you die” the writer-speaker Robin Sharma tells about the difference between a diary and journal. A journal he says is one of the best personal development tools one can have. In this private space, one can reflect and refine on what we do, why we do it, and what lessons we have learnt.
Earlier Perspectives
Year End Diary-Notes-2015 | Prashant Bhatt’s notes
Thanksgiving and Diwali notes
Diwali is also a time to look back and see what one is grateful for in the past year.
One of my mentors -Sudhir Bahuguna- (my maternal uncle) passed away this year.
He helped me go through the nuances of understanding the causes and conditions which make a people what they are. He was one of the inspirations of the Tripoli Reading Group.
He would gently rebuke me when I would be too dogmatic or overbearing, blindsided by the medical scientific imaging culture which relies heavily on costly equipment.
Thanksgiving and Diwali are times to look back- in work, communications, family, personal, community and whom would you like to especially remember. Remembered some loved ones who have passed away, wrote small letters of gratitude.
The Himalaya Hitkar Society-Uttarkashi-1991
One fellow-traveler who passed away- dear Sudhir Mamaji (Sudhir Bahuguna) deepened in me the spirit of seeing the causes and conditions which shape the community. He started the Himalaya Hitkar Society in the aftermath of the 1991 Uttarkashi earthquake. 1
The Garhwal division of Uttarakhand is flanked by Tons river on west, Alaknanda in the east, and is located at the boundary of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Over the decades apart from holding Health Camps, he helped train teachers in the hills, facilitated the increase in understanding of persons in remote areas.
Exploring Subaltern Historiography-Hotel Kabir-Tripoli-2009
He was one of the inspirations of the Tripoli Reading Group, which I initiated with the help of some Professors in the University of Tripoli, who helped me see subaltern historiography in a more intimate, realistic manner. Many were the evenings in Kabir Hotel of Tripoli (now closed) when we would meet over coffee and discuss how the day-to-day life of people in Tripoli and surrounding areas evolves.
When the open rebellion against the Gaddafi regime started in 2011, there had already been many decades of alternative narratives as evidenced by memoirs like Hisham Matar’s – In the Country of Men
The book is told through the eyes of Suleima, a nine-year-old boy living in Tripoli, Libya who tries to balance the mixed feelings of being associated with a father whose clandestine anti-regime activities bring about searches, stalkings and disappearances and a vulnerable mother who tries to bury her anxiety, anger, confusion into Alcohol.
The burning of the office of the Green Book-February-2011
Such associations helped me go around Tripoli in the early days of the uprising- the Libyan Chapter of the Arab spring. One local member of the reading group pointed out to me the burning of the office of the Green book.
The Green book of Gaddafi was inspired by the Red book of Mao, had its influence on many, was essential reading in schools and was broadcast through local radio stations. The socialist Bolivian president Evo Morales cited the Green Book as a major influence on his beliefs.
Some sections like the one on abolishing money are similar to Friederich Engels’ Principles of Communism- “The final step is when the new socialist society reaches the stage where profit and money disappear. It is through transforming society into a fully productive society, and through reaching in production a level where the material needs of the members of society are satisfied. On that final stage, profit will automatically disappear and there will be no need for money.”
As I spent that summer of 2011 on the ground, in Libya, watching the unfolding of the Arab spring and NATO Backed offensive, the way the Green Book manifested on the ground, the many institutions which were influenced by it came to mind.
Networks and Cafes of Toronto and New York City – Around Diwali 2024
Around this time, we exchanged cards and gifts. Through work I have come to know persons whom I would not usually meet in my social circles. Through coffee times at Baka Bloor, where we read parts of Yuval Noah Hariri’s new book-Nexus, we discussed spiritual networks which inform our walks and discussions.
The Baka cafe at Bloor street is an interesting networking place. A few weeks ago, I met a friend there, whose parents were originally from India. He was born here in Toronto. On sharing notes he told that his father had served in the British Indian Army in World War 2.
Am also grateful for the time we as a family spent together praying at the Marble Collegiate Church where Father Norman Vincent Peale gave his message of Power of Positive Thinking. Quiet time on a retreat in Manresa – Pickering gave some time to reflect on the question- how is God working in your life, what is it that you learned about yourself through this journey.
I first came to Manresa in May 2022. I remember doing one of my first basic interventions exams from Manresa then. Now, two years on, have evolved to a different level and realized how little I knew, and how much more ground there is to be covered.
Diwali 2024
As we walked through Riverwood around Thanksgiving and Diwali, participated in prayers at the Ram Mandir of Mississauga-which is organized by Pandit-ji who was born and raised in Guyana, it was a also a time to look back at celebrations of Diwali in different parts of the world. I remembered some mentors, some fellow travelers and the spirit of unity, hope and forgiveness and healing.
Earlier Perspectives
2012-Diwali in Tripoli
Diwali in Tripoli. | Prashant Bhatt’s notes
2012-Migrant Nights
Prashant Bhatt's notes 