A Diwali gift for you

Here’s a little Diwali story — a small present from me to you. For, what else can a humble writer gift readers, but precious words?
Driving back from the airport three days before Diwali, I stopped at a busy intersection to buy a bunch of colourful paper lanterns. Known as aakash kandeels in Maharashtra, my Diwali remains incomplete till I string these simple and beautiful lanterns at the entrance of our home.There I was, harried and exhausted, negotiating a price with the man selling these gorgeous beauties from a wire strung between two ancient trees.
While I was making up my mind between vibrant oranges and electric pinks, with purple and yellow thrown in for good measure, I noticed a little girl around eight years of age, tugging at her mother’s hand while trying to grab the long streamers trailing the lanterns, even as the owner attempted in vain to shoo her away.
Don’t do that, I scolded the man, she’s just a little girl who’s attracted to your lanterns. He laughed and said, ‘‘Oh no, that isn’t so. I know this girl and her mother. They are my neighbours. Both of them are crazy. They’re a nuisance.
Ignore them. I face this problem every year.’’ That’s when I took a closer look at the little girl and her mother. The man was partly right. The girl did seem somewhat simple and her mother looked overly distracted and disturbed.