Kartik Amavasya — October or November
A Diwali message that is not a forwarded image
By the evening of Diwali the average phone has received forty near-identical images, most of them compressed past legibility and none of them written by the person who sent them. The bar, in other words, is on the floor.
Clearing it takes about three minutes and one specific sentence. This matters most for the people you are not spending the festival with — the family you moved away from, the friends whose houses you used to walk to. A page with the right two photographs does what a forwarded diya cannot.
Templates that suit it
A template built specifically for Diwali is not out yet. The two below carry a Diwali message honestly in the meantime — the Love Note is free.
What to write
Use these as they are, or as a running start. Every template also has a draft-it-for-me button if the words will not come.
For family in another city
The building here does not do Diwali properly and I miss the noise of yours. Lighting the same diyas anyway. Happy Diwali — I will call after dinner.
For your parents
Every Diwali I understand slightly better how much work you both did to make it look effortless. Thank you. Happy Diwali.
For a friend
Fifteen years of the same terrible fireworks and the same argument about mithai. Happy Diwali. Save me a piece of the good one.
Works for: Family · Parents · Friends · People you have moved away from
Questions people actually ask
Can I send the same page to several people?
Yes — one link works for everyone you send it to, and there is no limit on how many people open it. If you want it to name one person specifically, make a separate one.
Will it work on my parents’ phone?
It opens in whatever browser is already on the phone, needs no app, and is built for small screens on slow connections first. That is the case we test.