Happy Holidays!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
And the Fourth of July.
And even a little bit like Halloween.


Today is the biggest festival day in all of India—Diwali. The holiday celebrates Ram’s return to Sita, his wife, after his triumph over evil Ravana. Diwali actually means a row of lights—apparently Ram was welcomed back by thousands of tiny lanterns guiding him home like lights on a runway.



To celebrate, most Indian families spruce up their homes by doing extra cleaning and repainting. Many also hang lights and set out oil lamps and candles, giving even the dingiest portions of the city a lovely glow. In fact, our neighbors have a set of lights draped on their veranda that also plays—get ready for this—Santa Claus is coming to Town and Jingle Bells. Strangely, it sort of fits, as all the shops here run major sales and people visit to exchange presents. We were actually given a fruitcake. No lie.


But to add to the confusion, Diwali is also the time to set off crackers (fireworks—not overly white Americans) and make lots and lots of noise. Between the explosions and the events, sleep has been difficult. Two nights ago just behind our building, a religious concert blared until 2 am and then fired back up at four. Last night, folks were setting off fireworks until the wee hours of the morning, even though Diwali is actually today.


We joined Vinnie, the 9 year old daughter of our landlords, for some nice quiet sparkler fun while the city sounded like it was under seige with crackers. The crackers are actually sort of controversial because of the impact they have on the environment and air quality. Apparently, they also disturb wildlife (though the noise is having no effect on a certain pair of stubborn pigeons). A few days ago, the smoke in the air was so thick, we shut all the windows in our apartment—a first since our arrival. Below, some school kids protest crackers in the city’s central shopping market.


And finally, there is a tinge of Halloween. Sweets are the preferred gift—most of them too sweet for even me to enjoy. They're all made of condensed milk, loads of sugar, cardamom, and covered with this edible silver foil.

For our part, we’re enjoying the holiday today by spending it like we spend Christmas at home with our families—eating at odd times, sleeping late, lingering in our pajamas, and trying to figure out what to do with the fruitcake.

Jen

PS: We’ve also got a two-week break from school in observance of the holiday, so we’re heading “out of station” as they say in India. We’ll be traveling through Rajasthan, one of the most colorful and historic areas of the subcontinent. A map and route of our trip is below. We hope to have a chance to post a few pictures and some short updates when we visit internet cafes, so keep checking in!