Dear Friends,
Welcome back !!! Hope you are having a great weekend. With the festival of lights Diwali just round the corner I thought I would share my experience of celebrating Diwali in both India as well as in the U.S.
Diwali also called as Deepavali or the festival of lights is among the major festivals in the Indian calendar. It is a very popular festival in India quite similar to the popular Christmas festival in the Western countries. On this occasion, men dress up in Kurta Pyjamas and women dress up in beautiful Salwar Kameez or Sarees. The houses are decorated with beautiful light lamps and decorative lights. The courtyards are decorated with colorful Rangoli designs. People visit their near and dear ones and exchange greetings, sweets, fire crackers and gifts.
As a kid, my preparation of Diwali used to start a good one month in advance. The Dushera or Dasara festival falls normally in the month of October. And, Diwali falls generally towards the end of October or beginning of November. Me and my friends used to buy toy pistols which would have a fire cracker roll. We would run through the streets playing chor (thief in Hindi) police. We would take a packet of bijli (small size fire crackers) and fling the crackers with bare hands pretending it to be some small bomb. We used to burst lots of variety of sound crackers like Lakshmi bomb, Hydrogen bomb (this was the loudest), butterfly crackers etc. Then we used to fly rockets with lights, whistle and multi sounds at night. In short, we used to have a great amount of fun. Just like Bilbo Baggins and his hobbit friends in the Lord of the Rings movie we would act like little Imps running here and there and enjoy the festival.
From the past few years, I have started using crackers that sparkle more and make little or no sound. We bring home sparklers, flower pots, pencil sparklers etc. Also, we have stopped bringing crackers that cause lot of smoke or pollution. We perform Lakshmi pooja (praying in Hindi) on the day of Diwali and pray to god to dispel evil through light.
A couple of years back, I was in Atlanta city in the U.S. for work. I was invited by a colleague to his home to celebrate Diwali with his family. I was very happy that I would not feel alone on this happy occasion. Since, Diwali is not a holiday in the U.S. I had to go to work. When I reached office in the morning, I was surprised to see that the entire floor was decorated with light lamps and beautiful rangoli colors. I came to know that our company had recently started celebrating all the global festivals to make the employees happy and to promote cross cultural awareness. I was very happy and looked forward to celebrating Diwali with my colleague's family in the evening.
In the evening, my colleague picked me up in his car and took me to his home. A few of my other colleagues had assembled at his place with their families. We were served a great dinner by my colleague's wife who was an exceptional cook. After the desserts, we decided to light some fire crackers. Now, my expectation of fire crackers was like some rockets, sparklers, flower pots, 100 wala ladi (bunch of 100 bijli crackers tied together like dynamite sticks). But, my expectations were diffused when my colleague said that we could not light all those crackers due to various restrictions in the U.S. So, we had to be contend with lighting a sparkler and posing for pictures. My colleagues seemed little scared when the neighbors opened their doors and started seeing us. They also seemed little too anxious about the smoke as it could cause fire alarms. Their tension caused us to miss the regular fun which we have back home.
My colleague also narrated an incident that accidentally they had burst a fire cracker. And, instead of just sparkling it had caused a huge explosion. So, my colleagues and their families had got scared out of their wits and ran away from that place. They were afraid that the cops would question them or the neighbors would complain to the police. They said that only few temples had the permission to light fireworks. Also, there were some public grounds where they could burst the fireworks.
After lighting the sparklers we returned to my colleague's home where we started playing cards. Playing cards on the day of Diwali is very popular in India. And, although we did not gamble with money. But, we were just playing for fun. I returned to my hotel room at around 1.30 am in the morning. I was feeling lot of mixed emotions. I was happy that I was so warmly hosted by my colleague. But, still I was missing my family. Also I was missing the freedom of bursting fireworks on the streets and making merry without the fear of my neighbors calling the police.
I believe initiatives like my company promoting awareness about festivals from other countries are very important. It would help the people to understand each others cultures and respect them. After all, we are all children of the same God. We need to care for and love each other.
I wish all of you a very happy Diwali and may the Goddess Lakshmi bring peace, prosperity and lots of joy in your lives.
With Love,
Gunjan.
Welcome back !!! Hope you are having a great weekend. With the festival of lights Diwali just round the corner I thought I would share my experience of celebrating Diwali in both India as well as in the U.S.
Diwali also called as Deepavali or the festival of lights is among the major festivals in the Indian calendar. It is a very popular festival in India quite similar to the popular Christmas festival in the Western countries. On this occasion, men dress up in Kurta Pyjamas and women dress up in beautiful Salwar Kameez or Sarees. The houses are decorated with beautiful light lamps and decorative lights. The courtyards are decorated with colorful Rangoli designs. People visit their near and dear ones and exchange greetings, sweets, fire crackers and gifts.
As a kid, my preparation of Diwali used to start a good one month in advance. The Dushera or Dasara festival falls normally in the month of October. And, Diwali falls generally towards the end of October or beginning of November. Me and my friends used to buy toy pistols which would have a fire cracker roll. We would run through the streets playing chor (thief in Hindi) police. We would take a packet of bijli (small size fire crackers) and fling the crackers with bare hands pretending it to be some small bomb. We used to burst lots of variety of sound crackers like Lakshmi bomb, Hydrogen bomb (this was the loudest), butterfly crackers etc. Then we used to fly rockets with lights, whistle and multi sounds at night. In short, we used to have a great amount of fun. Just like Bilbo Baggins and his hobbit friends in the Lord of the Rings movie we would act like little Imps running here and there and enjoy the festival.
From the past few years, I have started using crackers that sparkle more and make little or no sound. We bring home sparklers, flower pots, pencil sparklers etc. Also, we have stopped bringing crackers that cause lot of smoke or pollution. We perform Lakshmi pooja (praying in Hindi) on the day of Diwali and pray to god to dispel evil through light.
A couple of years back, I was in Atlanta city in the U.S. for work. I was invited by a colleague to his home to celebrate Diwali with his family. I was very happy that I would not feel alone on this happy occasion. Since, Diwali is not a holiday in the U.S. I had to go to work. When I reached office in the morning, I was surprised to see that the entire floor was decorated with light lamps and beautiful rangoli colors. I came to know that our company had recently started celebrating all the global festivals to make the employees happy and to promote cross cultural awareness. I was very happy and looked forward to celebrating Diwali with my colleague's family in the evening.
In the evening, my colleague picked me up in his car and took me to his home. A few of my other colleagues had assembled at his place with their families. We were served a great dinner by my colleague's wife who was an exceptional cook. After the desserts, we decided to light some fire crackers. Now, my expectation of fire crackers was like some rockets, sparklers, flower pots, 100 wala ladi (bunch of 100 bijli crackers tied together like dynamite sticks). But, my expectations were diffused when my colleague said that we could not light all those crackers due to various restrictions in the U.S. So, we had to be contend with lighting a sparkler and posing for pictures. My colleagues seemed little scared when the neighbors opened their doors and started seeing us. They also seemed little too anxious about the smoke as it could cause fire alarms. Their tension caused us to miss the regular fun which we have back home.
My colleague also narrated an incident that accidentally they had burst a fire cracker. And, instead of just sparkling it had caused a huge explosion. So, my colleagues and their families had got scared out of their wits and ran away from that place. They were afraid that the cops would question them or the neighbors would complain to the police. They said that only few temples had the permission to light fireworks. Also, there were some public grounds where they could burst the fireworks.
After lighting the sparklers we returned to my colleague's home where we started playing cards. Playing cards on the day of Diwali is very popular in India. And, although we did not gamble with money. But, we were just playing for fun. I returned to my hotel room at around 1.30 am in the morning. I was feeling lot of mixed emotions. I was happy that I was so warmly hosted by my colleague. But, still I was missing my family. Also I was missing the freedom of bursting fireworks on the streets and making merry without the fear of my neighbors calling the police.
I believe initiatives like my company promoting awareness about festivals from other countries are very important. It would help the people to understand each others cultures and respect them. After all, we are all children of the same God. We need to care for and love each other.
I wish all of you a very happy Diwali and may the Goddess Lakshmi bring peace, prosperity and lots of joy in your lives.
With Love,
Gunjan.
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