Diwali at Oadby

Diwali at Amma's house was not optional. However far you had moved, you came back to Oadby for it. She would have been cooking for three days — the whole house smelled of ghee and cardamom — and the front room filled up with cousins and neighbours and people none of us could quite place. She lit the diyas herself, every single one, and would not let the children do it until they were old enough to be careful about it. The photographs from those evenings are some of the only ones where she is sitting down. She is always smiling in them, usually mid-sentence, usually telling someone to eat more.