Diwali...Candles, Lights & Teen Patti...

  Gambling on Diwali Tint tint...and the phone beeps once again... Assuming it the ‘Happy Diwali’ messages, I ignored it. The Diwali wishes had flooded my phone and I was busy replying and deleting messages the entire day. But this message was unusual. I was shocked and nervous. The message reads... ‘Interested to join the party and play Teen Patti. Get chips and play Diwali. Call us @######## or visit www.#########’.   I checked my phone over and again, read it many times but it read the same. I was actually trying to figure out what actually it means. My nervousness led me delete the message, the very moment. However, my curiosity led me searching Google all the time to know what actually Teen Patti is. I just understood that there is something called Teen Patti chips which are sold online.   Days after that, I kept on thinking about the message and how someone trapped my number bothered me a lot. Later, I realized that I have shared my number with many food joints, shopping malls, online sites, which I should not have done.  But I wanted to get more information on this.   “Teen Patti is a banned in gambling which is played mostly on Diwali. It’s an open secret that people of all age mainly elite class gamble in lavish hotels or even at home with the justification of terming it as an old age tradition. Gambling on Diwali is common in India and Guwahati in Assam is not an exception too. People of the city enjoy gambling at least on Diwali and their Diwali does not complete without it,” informs Viki, a friend on the condition of anonymity.   Talking about the interest of people in gambling, he informs that women also love to gamble and spends lakhs of rupees on gambling. Some women keep Rs. 5 to 10 lacs just as their show money and can play gambling of ten times the amount mentioned.   Interestingly, the strange fact is that how people actually play it, as it is illegal in India. Don’t the cops have any information on it? “Yes, we get information,” says an officer. “But finding out the places is really tough because people play at homes, clubs. They book hotels for party and gamble there. However, we always raid hotels and casinos but many hotels do it in in one room which is tough to find out. Every year we catch many but to stop it seems really tough,” he adds.   Let’s assume cops are giving their hundred per cent but what about those people who are openly selling Teen Patti chips online with their contact details. Are we getting any news of their arrest, no I think? These chips are just like poker chips and symbolizes money for gambling. Different colors of coin symbolizes different money value.   Well, gambling is prevalent in India from the time of Mahabharata, and has been associated as a custom of our culture. Let’s preserve our customs and tradition but let’s also not forget what happened in Mahabharata after the gambling because rest is history. ..