So it's #diwali which means a little chat about what this holiday means, and why I'm getting choked up just writing about it.

First, anthropology. It's the harvest festival, and for North Indians, the start of the new year.

But that's just the nuts and bolts. Why the light? Why the party?

Diwali, at its core, is the last stand of the light. It is the heart that keeps beating even as the dark surrounds us and the cold sinks in. It is our reminder that until the very end, we are still the warmth and brightness.

Diwali is about triumph, about good over evil, about bringing everyone else up too. One torch by itself is a small glow, but from its sparks an entire people can see.

The stories surrounding the holiday are many, and vary based on where you are, what your flavor of faith is, and so forth, but there is the story many of us are taught that represents it all

In the epic tale of the Ramayana, Lord Rama is off for fourteen years in exile, and raises an army to fight the ten headed demon king Ravana. The reasons are many- the demon's evil reign enslaved millions, Rama's wife Sita among them

A battle ensued, and the years of war and suffering finally came to an end, restoring the bonds of family and of nations. Healing could finally happen, for the greatest evil fell.

Rama took the demon's flying chariot and started the long journey home, the epilog of his rpg, meeting those he was helped by along the way.

Word made it back to his home kingdom of Ayodhya, where fall was setting in, and the days were shortening. The citizens, bereft of their king for so long, were traumatized again at the thought of him returning in the dark

Rama, even in absentia, was beloved and benevolent. His people lived and died by his blessing.

So a farmer went to the river, and made a clay lamp. He took a cotton wick and some ghee and set it out at night. He had heard that the king had a flying car and would return soon.

A flying car? Who had heard of such ridiculousness? But the farmer said if anyone would, Rama would. And he set the lamp out night after night.

Others followed his lead. Clay lamps at every door, lining every street, lighting the city in a golden glow. Weeks passed into months.

And the people started to flag. The darkness was setting in, and the ghee needed to be saved for the winter. But still, one last night they persisted. Rama would return.

And that night, a glint in the sky. A glow from afar, like a comet growing bigger.

And the citizens quickly relit every lamp, cleared the main road like a runway, and waited.

And He returned to them. Hanuman holding the reigns of the chariot, Rama, Sita, and Lakshman in the back.

And jubilation exploded! Their faith rewarded, the shadow defeated, and good, even in the heart of the cold winter, triumphed, all because those men and women never gave up.

Night after night, in the face of doubt, in the face of defeat, in the shadow and the cold, they never gave up. They would have the light, and if not they would be the light themselves.

And that is the meaning of this for us. Good will always triumph, evil will always fall, and faith, in the end, will be rewarded.

The goddess of prosperity visits us this night to remind us that we are the lamps that guide God home. Always be the light. Happy Diwali!