Playing cards is a very popular means of entertainment in many Indian households, especially in larger or joint families. Cards are popular as an indoor game in which people belonging to all ages can join. Diwali being a festival of joy and family reunions, cards provide a great way to share time together in a pleasant sporty manner. Often the family members keep pulling each other’s leg while playing.

While everyone does not play it with money and bets, and though in most homesgambling is looked down upon, yet, cards are also a fairly popular way of gambling for many people. In many cases, within homes, cards are played with money bets, but the stakes are kept so low that the money does not matter. For all these people, Diwali is an important festival, because winning money is akin to being blessed by the Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, whose worship marks the religious aspect of the festival.

Not everyone who plays cards on Diwali does it because of the yearning for wealth. For most people, in fact, it is just an excuse. Moreover, in many homes and families, it is a practice going on for many years, to the extent that it has acquired the status of family tradition. During the festival, many families get reunited as family members who might have migrated to other cities in search of jobs or for other reasons return to their families on Diwali, and playing cards is the best way for re-experiencing the nostalgia of old days when they used to live in the same house with their dear ones. Playing cards, in such cases, is not just a casual entertainment, but an activity that brings back emotions, suppressed feelings, and forgotten memories. It is not uncommon to see people placing more emphasis on recalling past rather than bothering about winning the cards game.

Cards are a way of bonding for old friends too, who have spent many years doing the same, and it is equally popular among family friends when two or more families join together to spent time together. Often some members of the family will play cards, while others gossip orexchange notes.Sometimes, if the broader family is getting reunited after a long gap, then this game also helps in bridging the gaps of time and breaking the ice especially between members of the younger generation.

While for most people, cards hold something positive, there are some, who use this excuse to get away to their gambling dens. Such compulsive gamblers are seen less commonly now, but they do exist. These people get away from the family and festivities going on around them to get immersed in alcohol and gambling, and very often end their Diwali night on a bad note.

So the cards remain the same, but for some it is casual entertainment, to others they are a means of revisiting old times, while for a few it is just another excuse to carry on with their gambling.