“Hugging Laxmi to his chest, Mr. Garg climbed the ladder propped against the wall of his house. The Devi weighed more than he’d expected,” begins a short story by Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, in the Washington Post Magazine. “The Silver Spring Laxmi” is the tale of a homeowner who erects a Devi display to rival his neighbor’s Christmas decorations in an act of cultural rebellion. “Mr. Garg intended his Laxmi to give Christmas a run for its money, to rival the multitude of displays sure to invade the neighborhood in the coming weeks,” writes Suri. The story was published in …