Diwali just over in India
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006I don’t know why I am having a hard time writing about my Alaska trip – maybe because there was more to experience than to see – I need to sit down and really articulate my thoughts.
meanwhile, here is what I had written about Diwali two weeks back !
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I really missed Diwali this year – its one of those festivals that I miss periodically – once every few years the pangs hit hard. Diwali was last saturday in India. When I called home, I could hear the stacatto sound of fire crackers as if it was right outside my door. My mom had to yell loudly for me to hear her !
I have always loved Diwali – in India, a group of friends would collect with individual bag of fire crackers – and spend the night on the road near our houses. Then later at night retire to somebody’s large rooftop or balcony – rockets, chakri’s, anar’s. I have also loved the snakes and phooljhari’s 🙂 Kids and adults alike stuff themselves with sweets – friends, neighbors and families visit each other all day and overall its an extremely festive environment. Ofcourse, there are many who do the traditional Laxmi puja also – the godess of wealth is not to be ignored on this day – many also play cards and plan to win – coz if you win on Diwali, you will continue to have great cash flow for the year 🙂 How about that ?
I think Diwali also marks the onset of winters !
I have some pictures this time. Everything in India is very colorful, loud and festive - weddings, national holidays, religious holidays, vacations, birthday parties, etc. Places of spiritual importance are no exceptions. So, ... 
Rupa