Diwali

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Diwali - The Festival of Lights

This holiday is like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the 4th of July rolled into one.

In the early afternoon, you spend time with your family. I spent the afternoon with Sri Krishna, the Manager of Patient Safety at the hospital, and his family. We had dinner at his father's house in the beautiful community: Sai Gardens. We ate until we were unable to stand and then rolled out beds to take naps. If we had Football and tryptophan I would have thought it was the third Thursday of November. After I woke up from my second nap (I ate some more after my first nap) we decided to take a relaxing stroll around the neighborhood. Sri Krishna and his 9 month-old son, Ladu, were my tour guides pointing out the wide streets, with large-shade-providing trees on either side. We explored a courtyard overgrown with grass that had a tree in the middle up on a high floor, a scene begging for an elderly man with a white beard in the lotus posture deep in meditation. After twenty minutes or so we took rest again overlooking a Japanese-style pond recently filled with large coy or cob or whatever goldfish are called (Koi - my sister Amanda is so smart 😊. In the reflection of the water you could see the haunting blue of the sky that peaked out around fluffy white cumulonimbus; the kind of sky you get after a large storm blows over just before it is allowed to unload its downpour. Though we're close to the equator it felt like Autumn...

...Ladu continued to give little shrieks and yelps of pleasure at seeing the fish swim by. True to his name, which means sweet doughnut, his joy and sense of wonder at the simplest things connected with my own inner child exploring the simple pleasures of life in India.

After Diwali people begin wearing sweaters in the evening (especially as you travel further north). Diwali is the one holiday where everyone gets new clothes. Except for birthdays, this is when children asks for new outfits. And everyone is expected to wear a new outfit (kinda like their 'Sunday Best'😉 when they meet for lunch. As the holiday has gained popularity, clothes have extended to all commercial items as Diwali has exploded into something reminiscent of Christmas. Diwali began as a regional holiday that has exploded throughout all of India. It is a story about one of the thousands deities doing one of the millions of exceptional acts that somehow connects to unbridled consumerism and fireworks.

I say exploded quite literally. "Crakers" or fireworks are the nightcap of the evening. Well, nightcap may be a bit of a misnomer.... For 24 hours every person and their mother ignite fireworks of all kinds from sparklers and snakes to bottle rockets and small bomb-like noisemakers. Every wild dog you see has taken refuge in a low-land ditch protecting themselves from what felt at times like an equivalent to Band of Brother's representation of the Battle of the Bulge. It was really fun though. Myself, Marthi, and his three Akkas (older sisters), who have been taking care of him ran around the street outside of their house shooting off our hoard of colorful explosives. No one was hurt, but everyone's cheeks were sore from smiling so much.

What a fun day. Did I mention that it is a holiday so I got the day off from work -- I got to sleep in what a luxury.

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Comments

[Catherine Rakoff]

Holiday!
Sounds wonderful Dave. Did you get new clothes to wear?

[Godavid]

Yes. A fresh green collared shirt.