HYDERABAD: On Wednesday, Bollywood actor Juhi Chawla reminded netizens that Diwali is nearing and it’s time to clean up the house for the festival. Posting a photo of she enjoying and participating in the deep-cleaning process, she wrote: “Diwali Safai Abhiyaan...Getting rid of ALL the unused, hoarded-up, one-day-it-will-fit-me, not-working-but-still-kept items!! Have you all started as well?”
The festival of lights is just a few days away and many in the city, just like Juhi, have already started prepping for it. Of course, this entails repainting, redecorating and deep-cleaning our homes. But we are not alone in this; celebrities, designers and even government servants are getting their homes ready for the festival.
For instance, Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi is wrapping up her work at the office so that she can participate in the Diwali preparations. This includes a lot of cleaning and spending time in the kitchen making sweets. “Earlier, the preparation for Diwali started a week ago. But these days, as I don’t have much time, I’ve decided to allot four day for the festival. I am wrapping up all my work just so that I can spend time monitoring the cleaning of the house and make sweets. We don’t buy sweets from outside, I make a variety of sweets all by myself,” he says.
Actor Sri Reddy, who is from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, doesnt clean her house as such for Diwali, but has a routine in place. “I usually keep my house clean. In fact, I get obsessive and compulsive if I don’t keep my surroundings clean. In Andhra, people clean up their homes for Sankranti and not Diwali. But I make sure that all the pooja materials are spick and span for Lakshmi Pooja,” says the actor, who loves following tradition. “I also apply sesame oil to my hair and body before taking a bath on the day of the festival. This cleanses the body and purifies the soul. This is Diwali routine,” he says.
Meanwhile, city-based closet organisers E-Wardrobe has been getting many requests from designers to re-arrange their wardrobes for the festive season. “We offer both pre- and post-Diwali wardrobe organising services and have been flooded with customers this season. The foremost thing is to de-clutter the wardrobe and make space for the festive apparel,” says Vaidehi Warerkar, co-founder of E-Wardrobe.