For Shalini Chaudhary Diwali is all about finding peace through service

Mumbai:Shalini Chaudhary, who has featured in shows like Aahat and Crime Patrol, is a self-made woman, and it’s not just her personality but also her faith in the divine that has always helped her when things got tough. Now she believes it’s her time to give back to the society, and festivals like Diwali seem like the perfect occasion to do so.

She said, “From Dhanteras onwards I will start doing service at Guruji’s ashram. This is my annual ritual. That service gives me inner peace and has become my guiding principle. So I do it for three days, and it’s in shifts, so once I am done with that, I will come back home and celebrate with my family.”

For her, family is the most important. “My family is everything. All of us live together, and I feel these festivals help us in reliving good memories. There is so much laughter and love in my home, especially on these days.”

“We do puja on Diwali, together as a family, then offer prasad and conclude it with an aarti. Then we go out and look at the fireworks,” she added.

She called herself old school and also credited her army background for a simple yet warm celebration. She said, “My father was in the army, and there the culture was completely different. We would have a mela and then fireworks, which I really enjoyed. And it was about togetherness and bringing the positivity together. We used to make kheer, puri, and one vegetable, and I still do that.”

“When I see people drinking and eating non-vegetarian on Diwali, it really pains me a lot. I feel when you are welcoming Maa Laxmi and praying to Lord Ganesh, you should do it in a proper way and not just for the sake of doing it,” she added.

So what are you planning to buy on Dhanteras? “I will buy the usual things. A silver coin is a must-buy for me on Dhanteras, and a broom, of course. Apart from this, we buy utensils too, but those two are something that makes our Dhanteras complete,” she said.

A fond childhood Diwali memory? “I was the eldest sibling and we did not have a brother, so this one time my father got a real pistol and made me fire shots on the occasion of Diwali. I tell my kids that they burn crackers, while I used real guns on Diwali,” Shalini ended with a laugh.