For
the past few days my daughter, Swamini, was behind her mother to bring the
material for the Lantern she had in mind to make and use it during Diwali.
Diwali was a few days away and she had seen one very beautiful big lantern in a
nearby shop. Swamini had taken me on a different pretext in that shop one
evening and showed it to me. It indeed was a real beauty, a big sphere of colourful
handmade paper having a texture of interwoven lines creating delicate patterns.
That lantern was definitely seeking attention and standing out from the crowd
of all the other lanterns. She had firmly decided to make such a
lantern.
Once
decided, she immediately began to enquire
and acquire knowledge about how it is made. For this, she took great efforts and the next few days she was so
much deeply engrossed in her
mission that it became her passion. She went to library, asked her
craft teacher, searched internet, asked all the acquaintances she knew, even
went to the shop again with her mother on the pretext of buying it and studied it thoroughly. Now she had a
rough idea of how it is made. Then she listed
all the material which will be required for the lantern- not only one
lantern but five lanterns plus twenty small such lanterns, if in case the experimentation fails somewhere and also if in case the failures get repeated.
Her list also contained thick paper, as an
alternative, to make a conventional lantern, if the whole idea flops.
At
long last, fed up with the perseverance
of Swamini, her mother bought the material from Rawivar Peth, a place where you
get wholesale rates. This material
consisted of big and small spherical and egg shaped balloons, the best
non-breakable bundle of thread, a plastic box of fevicol (adhesive), different
type of handmade off-white papers, bulbs and bulb holders, electric wires,
transparent colours, brushes and what not.
This
was just two days before Diwali. Swamini was now anxious and excited to make it
very fast. All the time she was repeating
how she is going to make the lantern. Now was the time. That day, I came late
from my office, my son was busy in his college submissions, and my mother and
wife were busy in many other Diwali preparations. Her plan to make the lantern failed on that day.
The
next day, the day prior to Narakchaturdashi, early in the evening, Swamini, mentally decided to act firmly and
immediately, told her brother to help her in inflating the big spherical balloon
brought only for lantern –
“You
have the strength to inflate the balloon to big size. Will you help me Dada?”
Then
it was turn of her mother-
“See,
I am applying this fevicol solution by brush to the balloon, but it is not
getting uniformly spread.”
My
wife took the brush in her hand and applied a uniform coat. There were
uniformly cut papers in small pieces. This arrangement she had already made.
But it was found soon that a lot of more pieces were required and time was
running out. Her grandmother came to her help and told her to cut the papers by
hand instead of by scissors and that the beauty of the lantern may get enhanced
if these papers of different colours are cut and pasted without following a
pattern.
“How?”
- My daughter asked.
Viju,
her grandmother, did a wonderful job within minutes. Then the paper pieces were
fixed on the balloon by my wife. It was my turn now. I wound the string on the
balloon with whatever patience I had. Swamini again turned to her grandmother.
“Your
drawing is good. You also have a sense of colours. Will you tell me how to
paint the balloon?” --- And after a few strokes of brush by herself, she admitted her limitation and Viju’s strong
point, “Viju, you only can paint better. You can see I am on the verge of
spoiling the lantern”.
Viju
didn’t need any more prompting. With bold strokes and creatively offbeat colour combinations and colour mixing, she
painted the lantern.
My
son concentrated on inflating two more big spherical balloons and ten small egg
shaped balloons. Then he concentrated on the technicalities of drying the
balloon (which was now ready with painting), puncturing it and fixing the bulb
with holder to it with electric wire.
We
all were busy in making more lanterns while Swamini watched from a distance and helped us in small things, like giving
the string to me when required, diluting the fevicol solution, cleaning the pallet,
suggesting a colour combination, etc.
We
produced not only one lantern but at least twelve lanterns. Though it was not
in our (i.e. my daughter’s) plan earlier, we decided to fit all these lanterns
in a row. It was past midnight, may be 3.00 a.m.
When
my son switched on the lights, we couldn’t believe ourselves- so many lanterns
with different shapes and emitting a vast range of colourful lights.
I
shall never forget the joy of
Swamini, her jumping around herself, her
praising, her appreciation (“Dada - The lanterns were possible only because
you inflated the balloons, Aai - How we would have made lanterns without the
material? Viju - You brought the grace to these lanterns with your painting,
Baba – It is a skill to wound the strings around the balloon, it was a
difficult task.”)
We
unanimously told her that it is Swamini’s Lantern, because she took the initiative.
We all utilized our
skills to make the lantern but Swamini took initiative, empowered us, delegated
the responsibilities, monitored our progress with a helping hand where
necessary and showed the ability to use our skills to her benefit.
The
next day onwards, many people would stop on the road and would look towards
these lanterns since they looked attractive in daylight as well.
People
spend years to learn in their young age, implement their knowledge in their
middle age and write books after acquiring wisdom. I may not be in a position
to comment upon my implementation or about writing books, but yes, I admit that
I learnt many things from my daughter, in one night.
