One of the things that I knew I wanted to do here was start a new 365. For the most part, I enjoyed my first 365, and feel that I learned a lot from it. Logic was; we would be here, I was going to be taking pictures… so what better way to document all that we were going to see and do!? The thing is, I got here, and I could not take out my camera. Days went by with nary a photo shot.

This was a stressful move, and I know that has something to do with it. Who has time to take pretty pictures when they are trying to find food and furniture and their house and stop the lils from playing in traffic and worrying about all of the above and more. That wasn’t it. I wasn’t ready to go adventuring, and I had built this up in my mind as a way to capture our adventure. I didn’t envision a bunch of pictures of us hanging around the house while we wait for deliveries, or just starting to explore the places that are a really short walk from the house with lil legs, or playing in the back yard because I wasn’t comfortable enough to go much further with the lils. So I waited, and waited some more. Then I realized what an idiot I was and took out my camera. Everything that we are doing is part of this adventure.

I am changing things up this time; my 365, my rules. I aim to take pictures every day, and I’m going to try to be better about posting a picture every day, but they may not be taken on the day posted. All the shots will be taken in India, but there will be times that we are not in India, so I am going to use older pictures to fill those days. There will also be days where I get multiple shots I love, and days when I take crap. I’ll use the ones I love before the crap. Even if they aren’t great pictures, but tell a story. There will be many pictures of the lils, and of the flowers here. MANY.

Hope you enjoy, if you are into that. They will be posted to my flickr, and here is today’s shot, number six:

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I have to admit that I had very little knowledge or insight into Diwali or what it means to Hindus, or the Indian population in general, before I moved to India. Yes, I was aware of Diwali, but I really had no idea. In a country that is known for it’s festivals, this is the big one.

From what I have read, inferred, and heard from people, Diwali is loosely translated into “row of lights or lamps”, and thus the festival is also called the festival of lights. It is predominantly a Hindu festival, but also celebrated by other faiths. The date of Diwali is governed by the lunar calendar, and it falls on the new moon that occurs between mid-October and mid-November. This year, Diwali fell on October 26th. From what I can tell, it is pretty much celebrated by most Indians, in some way. Depending on who you talk to, the celebrations last one, three, or five days. From where I sit, they last longer than that! This is the seventh day of some form on celebration in my community.

During this time of celebration, it is not uncommon to see buildings, cars, and people’s homes decorated, much like you see for Christmas in Canada, including similar exteriour lights.

Garlands of flowers are the most common decor that I have seen, but people also us palm fronds and other leaves, and diyas (small clay lamps) to decorate their homes.

I have also seem some Rangoli, which is a decoration made of coloured powder on the sidewalk, street, or courtyard of a home.

You can’t help but get swept away in the celebration. In general, the people that we have met have been very friendly. During Diwali that friendliness grows exponentially, and the joy bursts out. They want to talk to you, share with you, have you embrace their celebration. We have had several pleasant conversations with neighbours that we might have otherwise walked by, had it not been Diwali.

There are three things that stand out for me from this Diwali. The first is that you really need to research your choices when deciding to celebrate with an Indian wine. I had heard that Indian wines could be pretty hit and miss, and the one we chose was a MISS. We happily switched to Kingfisher, and all was well.

Second, I completely underestimated how much fireworks are a part of this celebration. They were at night for the first few nights, but have been building steadily. Yesterday was complete pandemonium! I woke to crackers going off at 6:30 am, and they went steadily until almost 11:00PM. The hours between 7:00PM and 11:00PM were the craziest, with people setting them off willy-nilly. We went for a walk around the park and watched several narrowly missed homes (including our own!) and several nearby trees take direct hits. Today started much like yesterday, but was slightly less intense.

this is the in the middle of the main road in our community

Lastly, we were the star attraction for some at Diwali. We ran some errands at the local mall yesterday and were literally swarmed by a large group of people as we were leaving. They wanted to touch us, hold the children, take their pictures with us, and generally marvel in our pale blondeness. It was the craziest thing that has happened to me in a long time! Perhaps ever, and that says something. I tried to take a picture of the mob around Willy and Goose when they were spotted first, but I wasn’t fast enough. The four of us happily posed til the lils had had enough. The group excitedly dispersed, leaving us giggling in their wake. One of them explained to Willy that many of the group, both old and young, were from a remote area and had never seen a caucasion before. What ever the reason, they were very excited to see us!

Happy Diwali!

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