Anjali Arora: Even a million Insta followers can’t save you from Diwali ki safai

Actor-YouTuber Anjali Arora recently visited Potters’ Lane in Delhi's Sarojini Nagar. Here's a glimpse from her festive shopping with HT City.

Anjali Arora is all for supporting local artisans and celebrating Diwali sans noise pollution. In the Capital during the festive season, the actor-YouTuber shops with HT City, at Potters’ Lane in Sarojini Nagar, while sharing kahani ghar ghar ki when it comes to cleaning the house before the festival of lights.

Anjali Arora goes #VocalForLocal as she advocates for buying directly from the artisans. At the Potters’ Lane in Sarojini Market, she bought 100 diyas for her house in Kalkaji.(Photo: Gokul VS/HT)

Diwali ki safai and mummy ke taane!

“When it comes to Mummy asking for Diwali ki safai, you have to help, even if you have 12.9 million followers on Instagram (laughs)! Recently, our domestic help was cleaning the doors and when I offered to help, my mom said in her Punjabi accent: ‘Mekha vich zor na lagayi, nikal aane hain. Kapde utha!’ (If you put pressure on your nails, the extensions will come off. Pick up your clothes),” shares Arora, whose parents live in south Delhi’s Kalkaji.

Anjali Arora aka kacha badam girl, shares how she's all heart for everything that Delhi has to offer.(Photo: Gokul VS/HT)

A festival of lights, smiles

“Diwali is my fave festival and since it comes close to my birthday (November 3), it often turns into a fun time! For the world, it’s a festival of lights but mere liye toh it is the festival of smiles,” says Arora, adding, “I love decorating our home. Upar se neeche tak the house gets decked with lights, flowers and diyas. All this is a very Delhi thing and doesn’t feel the same in Mumbai.”

Anjali Arora tries her hand at decorating matki (earthen pots) alongwith a potter in Sarojini Nagar.(Photo: Gokul VS/HT)

Diya and dua

“I never buy diyas from the showrooms because other than the packaging and added zeroes in the price tag, they are basically the same as the ones sold by local artisans. I shop only from local vendors who labour hard. Yeh log dil se duayein dete hain. That’s all one needs for a happy Diwali!” says Arora.

Reminiscing campus wali Diwali

An alumna of Delhi University’s Deshbandhu College's 2020 class of BA (Prog), Arora shares: “I was part of the dance soc in college and festive time par fest time bhi hota tha. We used to rehearse day in and day out from morning till 6 in the evening. We would also have a mini celebration within the college with our society members. After that we would rush home for puja and celebrations with family.”

Anjali, who is a parent to three pooches, urges people to celebrate Diwali without creating noise pollution.(Photo: Gokul VS/HT)

Say no to loud firecrackers!

“Asking people to not burst crackers on Diwali in a place like Delhi is not very feasible,” the actor opines, adding that the focus should be on discouraging noise pollution. “A sparkler or sky shot feels like a celebration, but the bombs and ladiyan only create chaos. This bothers all the strays and pets, too. I’m a parent to three pooches — Max, Buglu and Mabu. We put cotton in their ears and give extra treats to help them cope with the noise. We need to be considerate about such things during our festivals,” adds the former Lock Upp contestant.