I've had this for years. A big black karhai. My backyard faithful, especially in winter, for water to boil, the fire fuelled by twigs and dead branches from the garden. In other seasons, it doesn't simply sit there, rusting into antiquity. In the height of summer I've had water lilies blooming there in all of violet glory, adding that extra special bit of exotica to the front-yard. At times, it becomes the focal point during the many bonfire nights as it is turned into a fireplace. Wood goes into it and we sit around a crackling fire--laughter, song, food and drink aplenty.
But it's during Diwali that it wears a different look. I place it near the entrance, fill it up with water and put in a mass of pink and white flowers and floating candles. At night, even in the midst of all the other twinkling Diwali lights, it's beautiful. Throughout the other seasons it houses either mud for the lilies or turns into a cauldron for boiling water or becomes a blazing fire-place. Now it holds water, petals and the lights of floating candles reflected in the tiny watery spaces between the pink and white of delicate, fragrant petals...