Kumar, 38, said this is the first Deepavali where the family is together again after all these years as his mother could not get leave during the festive season previously while working as a nurse in the Middle East.
“Now, she wants to make up for lost time by making murukku with us as she had not been able to do it for so long,” he told FMT at his home in Setia Alam.
His mother, Santa S Sinnappan, 64, could not be happier as she is finally able to celebrate the Festival of Lights after a decade.
“We were able to go shopping together in Brickfields for all the festive items, including new clothes, cookies and foodstuff,” she said.
The family’s mixed heritage also makes the celebration special.
Santa was born to a local Chinese family but was adopted by an Indian family from birth. She later married Kumar’s father, K Mahalingam.
“My mother now jokes that she’s more Indian than I am,” Kumar said, alluding to the leap he is going to take, by getting married to his sweetheart, Wong Hui Lynn, 36, at the end of the month.
“We finally registered our marriage on Sept 6 after having to put it off during the various movement control orders and restrictions over the past year,” said Kumar, an editor with a local publication.
Wong said she was excited to get to celebrate Deepavali with her new family.
“I visited friends during Deepavali previously but I never really got to experience it to the fullest.
“I’ve always been interested in Indian culture and used to watch Tamil dramas on TV2 when I was younger.
“It has been fun preparing for Deepavali over the last three to four weeks, waiting for this day to come,” said the post-production manager.
This morning, they will don new clothes and visit the temple before enjoying Santa’s home-made thosai for breakfast.
In the evening, Wong’s family will be joining them for a home-made dinner consisting of prawn sambal, mutton curry, chicken rendang, briyani, chicken kurma, dhall and thosai.
“We have been looking forward to this day as it will be the first time my family is having dinner with my mother-in-law for Deepavali,” she said.