The quintessential girl-next-door Mithila Palkar is a self-confessed foodie and Diwali is her all-time-favorite festival. This year’s Diwali however, is especially important for the actress as she moved into her new house just a few months back. “This will be my first Diwali in my new house,” she tells us and adds, “I am very excited to decorate my house and host people.”

Known for her work in films Karwaan, Tribhanga, Chopsticks, Katti Batti and shows like Little Things and Girl In The City, Mithila is visibly excited when talking about the festive season.

“Diwali is my favourite festival. There is so much happiness everywhere and the energy is different. It is all bright and colourful and everyone is looking forward to wearing new clothes. Diwali for me means a lot of family time and it has always been a festival where the entire family comes together and celebrates.”

While she loves the Diwali faral, Mithila ensures that she helps her grandmom with it. “The family gets together and we make mithai and stuff at home. Oh, I am salivating already! Diwali means eating a lot of yummy Diwali food.”

Taking a small bite of the healthy sweet in front of her, Mithila says, “I don’t cook but during Diwali I am the sous-chef for my grandmom (my nani). She is the best cook in the world! We make Kanavla at home, popularly known as karanji. I help her with kanavla especially because that involves a lot of work. Through the years I have always been around her watching what she does. So, I help with putting the pitthi inside, filing it, folding it, cutting it and then frying. I follow her instructions; I don’t overstep because I am not very confident as a cook. We make shankarpali, khazuri which not a lot of people know. It is shaped like a shankarpali but they represent the dhal and gada and something to do with mythology and traditions. Then there is chakli, pohe cha chiwda, shev, rawa ladu, besan ladu. You know that it is Diwali when your breakfast has all these things. We Maharashtraians call it Diwali faral.”

Mithila has grown up in Shivaji Park with her grandparents at the family home and during all relatives gather there. “All of us make sure that we get the time together. We still follow a lot of traditions, mere ghar pe abhi bhi hota hai. The first day is about the Utnyachi Angor, that Nani still does for us – puts utna, does diya, there is a rangoli that we make on the paat (aasan) that we sit on. We put oil and narayal cha doodh (coconut milk) in our hair. My grandfather used to bring sandalwood soap. The men break a green fruit called Chiraat. Amhi chirat bolta, sagde vegra vegra kaitari boltat. (people call that fruit by different names). It has a mythological significance. We follow all these traditions every year. Firecrackers were never really a part of my Dadar Diwali life. There was a time when we would visit my father’s family who are from Baroda, my Kakas, Kakis, Atyas. There we’d have firecrackers. I’ve never been a big fan of crackers. But every evening we have diyas lit in the house. Devala diwa lawaicha, that’s a tradition. We put up ladis and malas in the house. Last year my grandfather expired, and we didn’t celebrate Diwali but this year we are lighting up the house and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Mithila has a close group of friends in Dadar and for decades they have been celebrating the festival in a special way. “On the first day of Diwali my school friends and I get dressed in new clothes and together we visit this Ganpati temple, Udyan Ganesh, in Shivaji Park. After that we have lunch together. This is a tradition we have followed for years. Even though most of us have been married or have partners, now, we always make sure that it’s just the girls meeting because that is a tradition that we have kept intact.”

Pics: Prathamesh Bandekar

Location: Meetha by Radisson