00:00Welcome. My name is Rajeswari Arokiyadas and Waiswari Imba Tele.
00:07A Rajeswari Arokiyadas looks forward to celebrating Dipa Bali every year.
00:13The festive day is a time of laughter, joy and gathering as a family.
00:18But hers isn't a typical Indian family.
00:22There are Chinese, Malays, Filipinos, Ceylonese-Portuguese and Caucasians among them.
00:28I was born in 1938 in Sagamad Hospital for a Chinese family.
00:35But I was given away, adopted by an Indian family.
00:40Then I grew up as an Indian.
00:43Her adoptive mother's colleague had suggested she adopt a baby.
00:47She had lost several children and was grieving at the time.
00:52Yet she opened her heart and home to Rajeswari.
00:58Growing up, Dipa Bali was a special time for Rajeswari.
01:03I look forward to Dipa Bali's function because that's the only day we will get good new dresses,
01:08everything new, you see.
01:10And then no doubt we are not in a rich family, but we still moderate, we still celebrate.
01:16And we do have prayers, the eve, for the ancestors.
01:22Through the years, Rajeswari has kept the traditions she learned from her amma alive.
01:28Every Dipa Bali eve, she lights rows of oil lamps around her home and performs ancestral prayers.
01:34Her amma's influence also lives on in the kitchen.
01:44Among the must-haves on Rajeswari's Dipa Bali menu is dose, which she learned to make from her mother.
01:51Rajeswari says she is immensely proud of her muhibah family.
01:55Many of them are of other faiths, yet they readily share a meal with her on Dipa Bali day after she performs her prayers.
02:02Their time together during the festival means a lot to her.
02:08Indeed, during the festival of lights, Rajeswari's home is illuminated by more than just traditional oil lamps.
02:15It shines with love, unity and understanding.
02:23Tibia Ragu and Sheila Vijayan, FMT
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