Stories are important. When I was a child growing up in London, the story of Diwali fostered a sense of pride in me. We used to dress up in glittery Indian costumes and pass around too-sweet sweets, delighted that our culture, too, had a sparkly, sugar-coated festival.
At school, we acted out the story of Diwali, embracing the roles of the perfect prince Rama and his perfect wife Sita, who are exiled to the forest for 14 years. One day, Sita sees a golden deer and asks Rama to capture it. Before he goes, he draws a protective circle around their hut and tells her not to step out of it. But she’s tricked by the 10-headed demon Ravana, who whisks her off to his kingdom. Rama fights to get her back and wins. Finally, the couple return to the city of Ayodhya, where Rama takes his rightful place as king.
