Diwali!!! (Better late than never…)

Diwali happened about 2 weeks ago, but we haven’t had a chance to post yet! So, here it is – with apologies for the delay.

First, Diwali is the festival of lights. It celebrates when Ram was basically reinstalled in the thrown. It symbolizes the power of light over darkness, or good over evil.

Here, that translates into lots of candles, decorations and fire crackers. Also, there’s plenty of food (as all good festivals and holidays have); visits with family; pujas and blessings; and a personal favorite to marvel at, Rangoli (sand art). We’ll share some of our India 2019 Diwali in this post! It will be heavy on the pictures, and lighter on the text….

Our Diwali started with a surprise from the school. First, a couple days before Diwali break, the school invited Parag and me to come to an event at 2:30. Turns out the event was just for us, and it was a Diwali celebration. We had wonderful food — all the “faral” (Diwali snacks!) plus some cake, idly, and other yummy delights. Here are some pics:

Earlier that day, Alex and Acadia had been rather surprised when every boy in their class brought in a card or little gift for them! One of the days of Diwali is called Bhau Beej, which is basically borther-sister day. The sister has to bless her brother, and the brother has to give his sister gifts. (I think the sister definitely makes out better on this one1) So, the teachers had the boys bring them something – and Acadia and Alex had to do aarti to each boy in each of their classes. Needless to say, they were a little overwhelmed by this extra focus! But they certainly appreciated all the generosity and kindness. Literally every single boy brought something. Amazing.

The girls had the Friday off school, and that day more or less kicked off all the celebrations.

I mentioned the sand art – Rangoli. We saw that EVERYWHERE! It was so beautiful. It was even at my gym – right in the middle of the lobby room where everyone walks. Here are pics of the Rangoli around town – whether our house, Shilpa’s, or in front of businesses in our shopping area…

Special shout out to Shilpa, her neighbor, and her neighbor’s sister for making this amazing creation in their hallway! It took them 2-3 hours they said. Notice the detail along the wall. Later in the evening, they lit tea candles that were placed around the design.

The Fireworks here are crazy. First, anyone can buy them.

SEcond, anyone can do them – and third – anywhere. So, that’s what was happening for a few hours on Sunday night…

Gotta love the car (bottom middle) just driving around the fountain sparkler…. (And there are names for each different type of fireworks. The kids all know them! )

If you’re interested, to look at some videos (4 to 30 seconds), please click here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/anwjqvMeWjwG4gJy5 (This is not for the safety conscious or those who like orderly lines…)

And here are just some more pics. Lots of neighbors give plates of faral (snacks!) and there are many, many decorations. We were so appreciative that people thought of us at Diwali! (Being unskilled in making faral, we shared stove-top granola and pancakes :-). )

After doing and seeing all the fireworks, we headed out to dinner at a roof-top restaurant in the middle of Nanded City, where we could see more fireworks. It was a very fun day.