Everything I Wore For My First Diwali In The UK

Since childhood, I’ve been obsessed with looking at calendars, particularly because there are so many holidays in India. I remember one year we had more holidays than school days because of the number of festivals we celebrated. Indians honour a multitude of holidays, irrespective of the religion each one belongs to, but if there’s one that we celebrate with everything we’ve got, it’s Diwali.

For me, Diwali (also known as the festival of lights) was the time when all my friends were home for the holidays and I got to reconnect with my people. Last year’s festival in the city of Lucknow in northern India was one of my favourites. My friends and I wore full traditional outfits, equipped with sarees and Bollywood-esque glamour, to celebrate our first Diwali since the lifting of pandemic restrictions. I lit lamps and candles and decorated my apartment with star-shaped lights. We filled our fridge with sweets and nuts (as most Indian households do during Diwali) and the food put me in a spice-induced daze. I had milk sweets, pani puris, samosas and paneer masala with naan. I wore a red saree and my grandmother’s necklaces, accessorised with silver and black opal rings. There was laughter, dancing and Bollywood music. Just thinking about it makes me miss home.

Last month I moved to London to study for a master's degree and while it was the right move for my career, celebrating Diwali this year wasn’t the same. Living in student housing in central London, among a very international community of students, I ended up celebrating with the small group of Indians at my residence. We lit diyas, played Hindi music and cooked fabulous meals. 

Compared to last year, I had less to work with for my Diwali wardrobe. With my limited student budget, I had to mix and match a few things from my existing wardrobe to build the perfect Diwali outfit. A typical festive look might consist of a new saree or lehenga paired with bold, heavy earrings but I couldn’t afford to buy new pieces (the average saree is more expensive than two weeks' worth of groceries in the UK) and baggage limits stopped me from bringing any festive outfits from India. So I got creative.  

Borrowing from one of my new friends in London, I wore a necklace made with silver Afghani coins that dangled around my neck, the faded silver giving it a vintage look. I wore one of my mother’s old rings from Malaysia – silver, studded with a three-layer band – and my sister’s shimmering silver ring from Turkey. On my ears I wore jhumkas, dome-shaped earrings with tiny bells at the bottom that jingle when you move. I bought mine from a roadside vendor on the streets of Old Delhi.

The only traditional piece I brought over to the UK was a dark blue Pakistani suit, an elegant set with white embroidery on the neck and cuffs. It has a sky blue trim and its white dupatta (a traditional Hindu shawl) is adorned with beautiful blue flowers. Since the festival of lights stands for positivity, hope and love, I wore the suit to represent peacekeeping, despite Pakistan’s strained relationship with India. I wore the Afghani jewellery to represent the citizens who fight every day for a free country, and my family’s rings as souvenirs of their love. Each of these carefully chosen items was an important piece of the puzzle making up my first Diwali away from home.   

My makeshift outfit helped me feel independent as a newcomer in the UK and, more importantly, reminded me that I can be connected to home no matter where I am in the world. In the truest sense, my outfit carried small pieces of history from around the world; it made perfect sense to wear it in London, where you can find someone and something from every culture imaginable.

Forging my path here alone has been challenging and celebrating Diwali this year in my own way was testament to that. Sure, I wore fewer traditional garments than I have in the past but I made up for it with special pieces that brought me closer to my loved ones both in India and the UK. In the same way that Diwali is a celebration of light over dark, dressing up this season has helped me to see the beauty of my new life in my new city.