Diwali and Cleanliness

Diwali is India’s premier festival – the Festival of Lights – celebrated with pomp and pageantry all over the land. It signifies the victory of good over evil, and wealth over poverty. Oil lamps light up the evenings and the nights; beautiful color patterns, called rangoli, decorate the entrance to every home and hearth; and friends and relatives gather together for a time of jollity and merrymaking.

Diwali is also related to cleanliness, and here we give you 7 tips for a clean Diwali.

7 Tips for a Clean Diwali

1. Your home.

Diwali is a good time to clean out your home. Start with your wardrobe. If you haven’t worn some clothes in over six months, there’s a good chance that you will never wear them. So put them in a pile to give away to charitable organizations.

Clean up the kitchen by discarding cracked crockery; and odd sets of cups, saucers, and glasses.

Clean up the linen cupboard. Discard bedsheets, bedcovers, table covers, napkins, towels, etc., that are faded, or have been used too often.

2. Oil lamps

Oil from the lamps that you light every Diwali evening may spill on to your window sills and discolor them. If you use decorative or ordinary candles, the wax from them may stick to the sills and refuse to come off.

Hence, it might be a good idea to place your lamps and/or candles on small earthen plates so that the oil and wax can collect in them, and the plates can be discarded once the festival is over

3. Crackers

While those few hours of light and sound fill the evenings with enjoyment; the morning after presents an ugly sight, with the whole ground strewn with firework litter.

Hence, arrange for a few large metal (not plastic) dustbins. Fill each dustbin quarter-full of water, and dump used crackers in these bins after each display is over.

4. Sprinklers

Sprinklers look beautiful when they give off their colored sparks as you hold them by their stems. Unfortunately, people throw the used sprinklers on the ground, which is quite dangerous since people can accidentally step on the hot used material.

Hence, make it a point to alert children and adults to throw the used sprinklers in the water dustbins immediately after they are used up.

5. Sweets

Friends and relatives will invariably bring boxes of sweets for you. Obviously, your own family cannot consume all these sweets, and neither is it healthy to do so.

Hence, rather than opening all the boxes together and cluttering up your kitchen or dining table, keep your home clean by keeping a box or two for consumption. Place the rest in a garbage bag, and distribute these later to an orphanage, an old-age home, or the homeless.

6. Gifts

Like sweets, people exchange gifts during Diwali. However, many of these gifts may not be of much value to you, and would simply clutter up space if you were to open them all up.

Hence, rather than opening up each gift; put them away unopened in your storage, and recycle them as gifts at birthdays or other occasions.

7. Book-shelves

Visit the book-shelves in the living room, the study, the children’s room, the bedroom – and take stock of the books and magazines you purchased or subscribed to during the year.

There are numerous organizations that will be most happy to take your discarded reading material – these include free reading rooms, lending libraries, students’ hostels, paying guest accommodation, and even schools and colleges.

So, with these 7 tips, enjoy a clean and clutter-free Diwali this year!

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