My Crackers, Sincerely, Not Yours

The sound of crackers is everywhere. It is Diwali time. Mum’s gone for the night shift but Uncle, Aunty (his wife), my two little cousins and my aunt (my mum’s sister) are there. A large gathering some would say. It could have been larger. Grannie and grandpa aren’t there. Grannie wants to have some alone time and grandpa can’t leave her alone so they’ve stayed back at their place. (You bet it destroys the whole purpose of alone time!)

So here we are, with three sets of crackers, frugal in amount after the exhaustion we faced last year in burning the excess amount of sparklers and whistling rockets and what not! We are ready to start the official Diwali celebrations. My brother is super excited and impatient. He reminds me of how I used to get miffed with mum over how she would make me late for the “burning the firecrackers ceremony”. My brother has brought his friend with him. As we are going through the firecrackers, I can see them both quickly finishing off every one of them. By this time I am feeling very possessive about my firecrackers. i am allowing them to take the crackers and enjoy burning them even though I would like to light them myself. (This is the story of life for an adult. You have to give away to children’s demands sometimes. So dear teenagers….cherish the childhood left for you.) So I am as usual brooding inside. I know it doesn’t befit an adult but I haven’t been an adult for long. I still have more than a year of teenage left! (So excuse me). The boy has also brought his brother and thankfully he has his own packet of some sparklers, chili bombs (there is no chili in them, and they are a shame to the bomb community) and charkhas. This definitely brings much needed relief to my heart but I am still burning just a few and giving them the chance to burn the crackers. Now, I had saved up the largest rocket I had bought for myself so that I could burn it at the end. I ended up acceding to my brother’s friend’s request to burn it. Well I didn’t even have to give in; he was already ready with a candle and had lighted the rocket. So the thing ended with me not really burning many crackers.

I am feeling disappointed, plain and simple. I will not beat about the bush just because I should try to maintain the charitable disposition of a grown up. And the sad part is that I can’t really share my feelings with anyone. Who would entertain a now college student with her selfish and possessive attitude? Growing up is at times overrated.