Diwali - a drabble

The preparations would start months in advance. Recipes culled out of women’s magazines, tried once, carefully hoarded.

Five sweets, three savouries. Coconut burfee and chaklis were all-time favourites. That pista halva made out of green peas sounded interesting. Semia-payasam or teratipal? Boondi ladoos were dicey – let’s not attempt it? Chocolate fudge or kaju katlis?

On Diwali day, the most perfect looking sweets would be carefully arranged on the best plates, covered with crocheted cloth, and taken around to the neighbours. An informal competition to see who is the best cook.

Can shop-bought sweets even in their attractive boxes ever compare?

______
Drabble (n) - an extremely short work exactly one hundred words in length. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test the author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.