Celebrate Diwali with The Ten News 🪔
LISTEN HERE
The Ten News: Season 4, Episode 23
Today is The Ten News Diwali Party!
🪔 Ten'ers Alia & Kinara are in the studio to drop some knowledge about the history of Diwali
🎉 Learn about the activities, food, and other traditions that take place during the 5 day celebration
🤔 And, on the trivia throne: Ten'er Akiva puts kid correspondent, Owen to the test about all things Diwali
Resources
Get Connected
🫶 Help fund The Ten News by donating today!
✔️ Subscribe to our Ten News-letter!
📱 Follow the show on Instagram: @thetennews
📧 Email us at hello@thetennews.com if you have any questions or want to submit audio!
🖱️ Visit thetennews.com for additional resources, our online store, the Ten'ers Club, and more!
TRANSCRIPT:
INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO
<SFX Door opens>
PAM: Good morning! Hello…? Why are the lights off? Hello??
<SFX light switch on>
RYAN AND KIDS: HAPPY DIWALI!!!
PAM: Oh my goodness! There’s so many lights, and colors!
RYAN: Dude, Kap said we could have a Diwali party today.
PAM: Aren’t our holiday parties usually, after work?
RYAN: Pam, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll be where you’ve always been. So I invited some Ten’ers to come party with us, ALL DAY LONG.
PAM: Well I’m not going to argue with any of that.
PAM: I’m Pamela Kirkland.
RYAN: And I’m Ryan Willard. It’s Thursday, November 16th.
PAM: This is the Ten News Diwali Party.
INT. STUDIO - DAY
PAM: I can’t believe we get to celebrate Diwali all day today.
RYAN: I’m so glad you’re on board. You’d be surprised how excited kids get when you tell them they can throw a party in your office.
ALIA: Hi Pam! I’m Alia.
KINARA: and I’m Kinara!
PAM: So nice to meet you all!
ALIA: Hey Pam, can you help me set these lights up?
PAM: Yeah of course! <SFX rigging lights>
RYAN: I’m really excited to celebrate, but I don’t actually know about the history of the holiday. Alia and Kinara, can you help explain it?
KINARA: It is the festival of light over darkness. It is also the start of the new year.
ALIA:   It originated in India. It is celebrated mainly or most seriously in India, but it is also celebrated all over the world by other people with different ethnicities.
KINARA: People celebrate for different reasons based on their religion or community.
ALIA: Some people think Diwali is like a Hindu holiday, but it's also celebrated by Seiks and Jains.
PAM: Am I pronouncing it correctly? Divali?
ALIA: It's, so the W actually is like pronounced as a V. So it's like Diwali, but, and, but a lot of people say Diwali because it's like spelled like that.
PAM: Alia, can you tell us the story behind Diwali?
RYAN: That’s a really cool story.
PAM: I think the lights is good to go, should we give it a try?
ALIA: Let’s do it.
ALIA/RYAN/PAM: Coooooooooool!
RYAN: Oh sweet Sita, I smell something delicious. I GOTTA FOLLOW MY NOSE.
AKIVA: Hi, my name is Akiva I'm eight years old. I live in New York City. I am very excited to celebrate Diwali with you all. It is a festival of lights in the Hindu culture. I am super excited to share this day with you all. Happy Diwali!
RYAN: Excuse me, we’re here to taste test everything and make sure it’s delicious. Kap! You’re here too?
TRACY: Hey Ryan, we’re cooking and cleaning today to get ready for Diwali. Did you know that the holiday runs for 5 days and each day you do something different to celebrate it.
RYAN: Oh I heard that. Alia can you break it down for us?
ALIA: So on day one, people clean their homes and shop for gold or kitchen utensils to help bring them good fortune. On the second day, people decorate their homes with clay lamps or diyas and create design patterns called rongoli on the floor using colored powders or sand. And these are typically flowers or candles, just like a fun, vibrant pattern of different colors. On day three, it's the main day, and families gather together for prayers followed by mouth watering feasts and firework festivities. On the fourth day, this is only for some Hindus, the first day of the New Year's, and it's when friends and relatives visit with gifts and best wishes for the season. And, fun fact, in the Hindu calendar, we are in the year 2078. And on the fifth day, brothers visit their sisters who welcome them home with love and lavish meals.
RYAN: I can tell we’re going to have a lot of great food for our party. What are you making?
ALIA: there's lots of traditional foods. Dessert wise, um, there's something called rasgulla, and they're these little balls of cheese, and they're like sponges, and you put them in this type of syrup, and they're typically eaten cold. And they're really tasty and sweet and fun to eat because they're really spongy.
<PAM WALKS IN>
PAM: Oh great, Alia, you’re in here with Tracy. I’m trying to decide what to wear.
ALIA: For Diwali, I'd say wear bright colors. Uh, even if you don't have traditional Indian clothes. Bright skirts and leggings, also awesome. Dresses, yeah.
TRACY: Great, we're almost ready. Alia, can you tell Pam and Ryan how your family celebrates Divali? I hear your mom throws the best party.
ALIA: This year was our 10th one and it was really fun. We invite lots of our friends and family. And we have a tradition called the Vali Deeds. We go around to all the kids, and they each say one good deed they did around the time of the Vali, for the Vali. We also donate to a charity called Spread the Joy, and everyone gets to make like a Joy Box, and it's for children in the hospital who can't celebrate with their family. Also on the volley for the past four years, I believe we take a popular song from that year and we turn it into a song about the story of the volley. So our first song was old town road. So, we changed the title to something that makes more sense. So we changed Shake It Off this year to Light It Up.
PAM: Oh can you sing this year’s song?
ALIA: Yea, let’s hear it! Divali is here. The chokesies hold it dear. At least that is what we hear. Mm mm. That is what we hear. Mm mm. It's been a whole ten years. That It's time to mark the start, mm mm, of good things from your heart, mm mm. But it all started when King Rom departed. See the left unguarded. it's gonna be alright. Cause Robin stole her away, way, way. And Hanuman came to save the day. Darkness was slain away, way, way. So light it up, light it up, O Diva! The villagers lit the way, way, way. Ram returned home to cheers and play. Now we all celebrate this day. So light it up! Light it up, light it Woo!
RYAN: THAT WAS AMAZING!
AKIVA: Welcome to the Trivia Room.
OWEN: Whoa! What the what?
AKIVA: Oh, hey Owen! I’m Akiva. I found this room and decided to decorate for Diwali…
OWEN: DUDE. This. Looks. AWESOME!
OWEN: Since you did such a great decorating job, do you want to run the trivia throne today?
AKIVA: Thanks!
AKIVA: Let’s do it! I have three trivia questions for you today.
{Insert trivia on the ten audio lead-in}
AKIVA: And now that you learned about Diwali let’s see how you do.
Number 1, what does Diwali originally mean?
Is it:
Row of clay lamps
A family gathering or
Golden bricks
Owen: I remember hearing that Diwali is a festival of lights.
AKIVA: The answer is A. A row of clay lamps.
AKIVA: Number 2, you heard about the story of Diwali. Who was the main warrior in Ramayana?
Was it:
Lakshmi
Rama or
Hanuman
OWEN: answer
AKIVA: The answer is B! Rama the warrior!
AKIVA: Last one, during Diwali, families celebrate by giving each other gifts for good luck. Can you guess which animal is featured on Diwali gift items?
Is it:
A) A Tiger
B) Monkey or
C) Elephant
OWEN: ad lib anwer
AKIVA: The answer is C! An Elephant. In the Hindu religion, the elephant is a symbol of the deity Ganesha. Ganesha is seen as the lord of new beginnings. An elephant is believed to bring positive energy and good luck during Diwali celebrations. You did great Owen.
OWEN: That was an awesome take over, Akiva. Let’s go get some yummy dessert.
<sfx shimmer/shine fades and door closes>
RYAN: <SFX chewing> Oh man, this Diwali party has been glorious.
PAM: I know! I’m not gonna lie, Ry, I’m kind of exhausted…
RYAN: But we need to give Ten News Snaps to one of our listeners!
PAM: And before that, here’s a quick note for the grownups.
RYAN: Time for Ten News Snaps! <Grand fanfare SFX>
PAM: Lechlak left us this review on Apple Podcasts, “from an 8 year old: William loves this show! Thank you!!”
RYAN: Thanks William, we love that you love the show! And thanks for listening to the Ten News. Ten Things You Need to Know drops every Tuesday and our in-depth reports drop every Thursday. And if you want some bonus content, you could join the Ten’ers Club on our website or on Apple Podcasts.
PAM: The Ten News” is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.
RYAN: The Ten News creative team is getting down with Diwali and includes Tracey Crooks, Logan DeYoung, Corinne Catibayan, Carson Potter, and Chad Chenail. Big thanks to Owen, Navid, Alia, Kinara and Akiva for contributing to this episode.
PAM: Our Production Director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan.
RYAN: I’m Ryan Willard
PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland; thanks for listening to The Ten News.
