Monday, October 20, 2014

Swamini’s Lantern


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.