Diwali: festival of lights
on Jane in India (India), 27/Oct/2011 11:44, 34 days ago
Diwali - the festival of lights - is one of the biggest dates on the Indian calendar, like the Indian version of Christmas. Last year, my farewell/fundraiser party at home fell on Diwali, just before I left for India and this year I got to celebrate in Bhubaneswar, just before my year is finished.On Diwali everyone covers their houses in lights, wears new clothes, does puja and eats good food and sweets and sets off fireworks! On Diwali night in Bhubaneswar there were bangs and fireworks going off everywhere, and a mist hung over the whole city from all the firecrackers! The poor street dogs and cows were on edge.. I spent the morning at Juliet's colleague's house. It's always nice to be invited into an Indian home; we looked through family snaps and had chai, sweets and snacks. Her 13 year old son was shy to talk to us at first but soon came out of his shell and couldn't wait to show off a video of him Bollywood dancing, followed by a live preview of all his video games! Then he took us to visit their lovely local Hanuman (the monkey god) temple. After that we went off to the Hotel Mayfair and chilled with the ex pat community by the pool - life here can be an odd mix of local and western living! In the evening Aunty had decorated the house with candles and we spent the evening on the roof, lighting candles, with food and beers while watching the fireworks...nice.Happy Diwali!Juliet, her colleague's son and me having snacks on Diwali morninglittle temple in Bhubaneswarwatching the fireworks from our roof