Delhi- Back for Diwali!

Happy Diwali everybody!

Today is the biggest festival in all of India, it’s called Diwali (festival of lights)! It’s absolutely wild here. My friend, Arun, said that Diwali is equivalent to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years put together. It reminds me of Chinese New Year, which I haven’t celebrated in over 4 years now. There’s prayers, stories, firecrackers, fireworks, feast and lots of candles. Diwali is a celebration of Lord Rama’s return from exile after 14 years. It follows the lunar calendar and can only be celebrated when there isn’t a moon at all. Thus, as a tradition they light up fireworks and candles to light up the city!

I was invited to enjoy the festivities with Arun and his whole family, it was such a big honor. Arun is the owner of the guesthouse that I’m currently staying at. The first thing that happened was that he brought his wife and daughter to the guesthouse so that they can say their prayers for the business. They prayed to the Elephant God, Ganesha, who symbolizes prosperity and wealth. Their prayer sounded like a joyful song as opposed to those serious chants.

Next, they drove me to their house where the grandparents were waiting for us. It was a small gathering amongst us: Arun, his wife and daughter, 3 grandparents, his friend and two other foreign girls from Germany. Again, I was so honored to be invited to such an important celebration with a small group of people. We lit up the candles that were placed everywhere outside the house and then the prayers started again. Once the prayers were over, it was time for firecrackers! Arun bought a lot of firecrackers and some of them were heavy-duty firecrackers. They were like small dynamites, haha, and it was not safe! Some of the rocket firecrackers flew up and then came back down at somebody’s lawn before they exploded. I remember lots of them flew out to the street and would explode in front of cars. Hahaha, I was just surprised that there were no regulations because it seemed ridiculously dangerous. Some of other people’s rocket firecrackers would fly right next to us and explode… scary stuff.

After the firecrackers, we finally get to the main event… Food! Hehe, ever since I got to India, I’ve been wishing to eat some home-cooked Indian food. The food was a-mazing. As a food-lover, this was a dream come true. We had mutton biriyani (fried rice), chicken masala, bean soup, parathi, fresh yogurt and pickled onion. If I could review the food on Yelp! I would say that it was ‘exquisite with the authentic touch of India. Strongly recommend’ and then I would give it only 3 out of 5 stars so that it isn’t always full with customers! As you’ve probably guessed by now, I ate like a madman! I was still stuffing myself while everyone moved onto dessert but I didn’t feel bad because it made the grandparents happy to see me eat. I love food!

After dinner came the table conversation. In the past, I always thought of these conversations as shallow and forced. I don’t know why I feel that way but I guess it’s because secretly, I’m an introvert. However, this time it was really refreshing. You have to understand, I haven’t spoken a single coherent sentence of English for the past two months. It’s always been broken English so that the people could understand the main points. But everybody at the table, including the grandparents, spoke fluent English. I had so many questions about the Indian culture that I couldn’t ask anyone until now. I just kept asking them every curious question I had in my mind. They clarified everything for me and I feel like I really understand the culture a lot more now. I learned about Diwali, the family expectations, the traditions, the American Indians, the perception of gays, the myths, the way to differentiate fake Indian food from Authentic Indian food in foreign countries and also about their great wedding customs!

Finally, the dinner was over and I excused myself to return to the guesthouse. I went up to the top of the roof to enjoy the beautiful view of the fireworks. This has been the most amazing firework experience in my life. Imagine the 4th of July fireworks but it lasts for a whopping 24 hours! Seriously, it was non-stop fireworks the whole day. Imagine that! The time between 9-12 pm was the most intense where there were fireworks shooting up from every part of the city. It was glorious! It was such a spectacular experience that I would never forget. Happy Diwali everyone, I miss my family and friends! Hope you are all happy!

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