The India Chapter: Curry In A Hurry: Celebrating Diwali

Last week I was extremely fortunate to be able to take part in and experience Diwali. Diwali, also known as the festival of lights (you should be able to see why from the pictures) is the biggest Hindu festival of the year and something I was looking forward to since last winter when I decided to come here for the fall term. The festival did not disappoint! Here are some of my experiences during Diwali.

Lights & Explosives

- The city literally erupted in firecrackers for more or less 4 straight days, and when the sun went down it was a non stop show up until around 5am the next day! The city smelled like one big pile of gunpowder and was extremely hazy.

- Almost every house was beautifully decorated with lights and some with bright lanterns and Rangoli art at their doorsteps. We were lucky enough to have Nilo come and design Rangoli on our front door.

Family

- Unlike many of the other festivals that I've seen so far which were centered around loud music and dancing in the street with huge stages and strobe lights, Diwali was really nice because every night we would walk down some of the side streets near our flat and see families hanging out around and coming to greet us in the street and shake our hand to say Happy Diwali.

- A couple of friends that I have met since being here brought over some sweets (Indian candies) as a gift for Diwali which is tradition when visiting someone's house.

- Walking at night and just watching families designing Rangoli or sitting in front of their front door chatting and spending time together was something I looked forward to every night

Energy & Atmosphere

- Walking down the street you could feel like excitement, especially with the kids who were in absolute heaven. What kind of kid wouldn't love a festival centered around sweets and blowing things up?

- We went to buy the ridiculous amount of firecrackers with Amman and his cousin. It was really great to see how excited they were and kept asking us excessively "You come tonight to get us right? We must light the cracker together!" It was adorable!

Danger

- Total number of bikes/cars almost destroyed = 2, total number of houses almost blown up = 1. Each time the "rocket bomb" was the culprit. The first time the rocket ignited uncontrollably into the street there were two motorbikes waiting, and it exploded right in front of them, they seemed surprisingly calm despite the fact that it came so close.

- A few days before Diwali, people were already lighting off crackers in the streets, so myself and another Canadian went out join. The first cracker we lit up literally exploded in his hands, it was a huge explosion. Looking back I'm not sure how he wasn't hurt more than a few cuts on his hands. I couldn't hear anything for 10-15 minutes and I had a huge light in my eye for a while as well. I would like to know how many people visit the hospital every Diwali because of firecracker related injuries!