Wake up, darling; it’s time to get “festive”. Get ready to delete WhatsApp forwards from your phone’s gallery. Diwali is just the start; revelry won’t end till after New Year’s Eve. This is the time for crowdsourced celebration. And if you don’t want that, it could still be a rager of one.
Pick an activity. Plan the menu. It’s the perfect time to tick some movies off your list. I plan to watch the boiling tea, dress up in old habits and doze off after a movie marathon. Well-fed, of course. The month of November is famous on the internet for being full of sadness and deaths. Instead of feeling happy-tired in company, some of us want to catch a break and be by ourselves.
Enough with the socialising
Must we always mark every holiday with sensory overload? The biggest pain about employment is the scarcity of personal time. Apart from weekends, most holidays are dedicated to festivals, activities, conversations and work. I would rather cure my burnout by watching the director’s cut of The Lord of the Rings movies. Speaking of film series, the ‘Before’ Trilogy’s useless romanticism also seems like a comforting prospect in this weather. I want to stay away from vampires, ghosts and superheroes, but I guess no genre is really bad.
Coming to recent movies, I would love to rewatch Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun (2022), where a girl reflects on the time she once spent with her father. The film was released on Mubi in January and made a sensation out of Normal People (2020) actor Paul Mescal. Cloe Domont’s Fairplay (2023) on Netflix is also an option if you want to see the deadliest closure between fiancés. Recent short films by Wes Anderson–The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Rat Catcher, Poison, and The Swan–aren’t half bad either. Kalki Koechlin’s Gold Fish and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail have also garnered great reviews this year, but I have yet to watch them.
Also read: Diwali got better after I left home—Gol gappas, grocery dinners, long walks for ice cream
Happy solitude
The good thing about not having anyone else in on the plan is that I control it. If I want to go for a walk in the middle of a movie, I can do that. Or I can call a friend. One unique thing about festivals is that group chats come alive. Everyone gives their take on each other’s outfits and rangoli designs. Nobody really has time to ask or listen to what’s happening on the other end. People just smile on video calls, talk about food and how they miss each other. They recall the Diwalis spent together and fight to agree on the “best one yet.”
Sitting behind the fairy lights curtain on my balcony sounds good, too. I will watch fireworks and guess their colour before they burst into the sky. And I won’t be responsible for polluting the air. It will yield at least one selfie for each dating app. The winner will become my WhatsApp profile picture. If the photos turn out really good, then I might think about posting them on Instagram. It’s been a while since I wrote a cryptic caption.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)