Lights and Music On My Mind (DIWALI THREAD, OPEN)

[Sunar Chugani]

Lakshmi Puja was the third day of Diwali, and the most important. Sunar had spent the last two days cleaning his dorm; the multicultural club had spent the last two days decorating their club room with Rangoli and making ladoos and halwas and kheer for the main celebration. 

The night before they had lit up Diyas, and left them burning all night. In the morning, Sunar had called his family to give them his well-wishes on this auspicious day (especially his mother) and then run around handing out sweets to any of his friends he could find. 

Despite the snow, the multicultural club was holding their celebration that evening out in the courtyard. Sunar had dragged Devyn with him with promises of even more sweets. The courtyard was surrounded by diyas, and in the center the club adviser was setting up tonight's fireworks. There was also a box of sparklers, but none of the students were being let near those yet. 

Sunar bounced on his toes in excitement. Even bundled up and in the snow he couldn't help but feel some sense of enthusiasm at seeing off the last day of the year (for Gujaratis, at least; that wasn't true for India as a whole.) 

"Saal Mubaarak," He shouted to everyone. It wasn't midnight yet, but that was no reason to not wish people a happy new year. 

[Poppy Summers]

The courtyard was filled with little lamps. It was far prettier than she thought it ought to be, the snowy backdrop the school itself, and then all the little flickering lights of the lamps. She'd done a brief bit of research on the day and it's importance (or what she could find of it), but for all that she tried the greetings were unpronounceable by her so she figured she'd stick with Happy Diwali (dee-wall-e) and hope for the best.

It wasn't hard to spot Sunar, a face she was passing familiar with, though she didn't know him well at all. He was a ball of excited energy, and who could blame him? This was a Hindu Festival and he was Hindu. At least she hoped he was and she wasn't being hyper stereotypical.

Bundled up against the cold and adjusting the bright yellow scarf around her neck a little more snugly she grinned at him as he offered her greeting. "Happy Diwali, Sunar." Then with dancing eyes tried out his version of it mangling the pronunciation. "Saul Moo-bark, oh shoot, no. That's not right. Can you say it again, please? I wanna know how."

[Deleted]

Aerina never forgot about Diwali. How could she? Though her schedule prevented her from preparing as much as her father would mean her to, she wasn’t going to miss the Diwali celebration for the world. She only wished that she could celebrate Bhau-beej with her elder brother like always. No matter how busy he was, Kasheem always came home for his little sister. This year, her brother had sent her a brand new shalwar kameez from home, one made for the cold weather. He called it an early gift for Bhau-beej, while wishing for her most sincerest prayers. Aerina would give those without hesitation when the day came, but for now, she wore it proudly with her simply placed bindi on this day of Lakshimi Puja.

Rina walked into the courtyard with a beaming smile on her face, excited for the festivities of the evening. She spotted a familiar figure ahead and rushed quickly to catch up with her new friend, Poppy, who was exchanging greetings with another boy she’d seen around the school. “Saal Mubaarak!” she exclaimed to the students, pulling an extra warm shawl closed over her more elaborate dress. She giggled, having overheard Poppy’s attempt at returning the greeting. “How are you?” she asked with a bright smile.

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar held out a gloved hand towards Poppy. "Poppy!! You came!"

The fact that anyone else in the school at all was interested in his cultural heritage thrilled him to no end; he loved being able to share with other people.

The appearance of a girl in a beautiful (and unusually thick) shalwar kameez elicited an excited yelp from him, and he nudged Poppy in the side. "Who's your friend??!" He asked, grinning at the unknown girl with undisguised interest. He had dressed in a dark blue Kurta and black pajamas (in the traditional Indian sense of the word), but they were covered with a black peacoat, and rather than wearing traditional Khussa he had on tennis shoes, because they would better keep out the snow.

[Poppy Summers]

Immediately looping her arm with Rina's and pressing a firm hand in the one Sunar offered, Poppy laughed, knowing she had absolutely butchered the greeting but shrugged it away. What was the point of getting fussed about it if it meant she wasn't going to enjoy herself. One of her two friends would correct her later. Or - if she remembered - would ask for lessons in proper pronunciation.

Giving Sunar a broad wink, "Sunar meet Aerina, Aerina, Sunar, the reason - well okay not the reason-reason, but the guy behind all of this gorgeousness. As I understand it he worked his butt off to make sure everything was well all of this!" She waved the released hand to indicate the courtyard. "But I don't think we can blame him for the snow."

Looking between the two of them, Poppy peered down at her own sweater, jeans over hidden leggings, and camel hair knit socks peeking up over the edge of her boots. Her coat was comfortable, and nice - her mother had at the very least given her some sense of fasion from the start - but she looked common compared to Aerina. Though, to be fair, Poppy often felt common compared to her stunning friend.

"Should I have brought little gifts? I should shouldn't I. Oh shoot, I'm sorry."

[Deleted]

The only misfortune about the season was that her garb was not traditionally made for this cold weather. The celebration was not usually made in such cold temperatures either, especially not in the snow, at least not for Aerina. Her home city of Mumbai rarely got below a comfortable temperatures, so the existence of snow was completely new to the Indian girl. She’d had to make certain innovations for her footwear just so her little toes wouldn’t be freezing!

She bit her lip once her arm was links firmly with Poppy’s, and looked shyly down at her toes as the boy asked about her. “Hello, Sunar. It’s nice to meet you,” she said with a slight blush. He was a good-looking boy after all, and reminded Aerina of her brother when he was younger. Her eyes brightened upon hearing about his involvement in this event. “Oh, so this was all you!” she exclaimed excitedly. “That’s amazing! I’m so glad you did this, it make me so happy!” Aerina loved the decorations. She only regretted that she was unable to participate in helping to set it up. She was so busy in other things, unfortunately.

Aerina shook her head. “No, it’s okay!” she assured her friend. “What’s important is that you’re here and that is more than enough gift, don’t you think Sunar?” Aerina turned to confirm that with the boy, sleekly batting her eyes to seem just a tad bit more feminine.

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar laughed and brushed off Poppy's enthusiastic but incorrect assessment of his involvement. 

"No, no! It wasn't all me! It was the multicultural club! Which I'm in, but that's not the same thing!" 

He was glad that the two girls enjoyed the festivities, of course, but he couldn't take credit for this. That belonged to the club. The whole club. 

He also didn't want Poppy to feel that she ought to have done anything differently, and so he was relieved when Aerina jumped in to reassure their mutual friend. 

"Oh! Yeah, definitely! Just having someone not in the club show up is great! I was sure it would just be us!" 

He didn't see Dr. Muller, though, which was disappointing. Ah, well, perhaps he didn't celebrate Diwali after all.