Diwali!

Yet another festival on the Hindu calendar. It is described and the happiest and noisiest festival in India...this explains the firecrackers the kids have been setting off lately. Must be a warm up. Diwali is a five day festival...and each day is different. At night, fireworks and oil lamps are used to show Rama the way home ofter his period of exile. Day one - houses are thoroughly cleaned and doorsteps decorated with rangolis (chalk designs). Day two - is dedicated to Krishna's victory over Narakasura (a legendary tyrant). Day three - spent worshiping Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Day four - commemorates the visit of Bali, the friendly demon that Vishnu put in his place. Day five - the men of India visit their sisters to have a tikka (mark of devotion) put on their forehead (they need a festival to visit their sisters!). Diwali is also known as the festival of sweets. Sweets and firecrackers...who could want more!

I've been spending more time in the city lately...much more comfortable of the layout now. Had some errands to run, and just wanted to walk the back streets to see what I could find. It's pretty much all stores (tiny stalls actually), and it seems you see the same or similar store every half block or so. Fabric/tailor shops, sweets, spices, odds and ends, tea stalls, scooter/rickshaw repair, optical shops, and produce everywhere. After walking for a while, I stopped for a bite at the hotel RRR, and decided it was time to get home. I had to walk toward the next "big circle" (traffic circle) to catch a rickshaw, but before I could get there, I was confronted by a crazy man. Could see it in his eyes. He started screaming at me in broken english, but I could understand most of it. Things like "hey, you are english/american" then something about Islam...etc...you can see where this was going. I tried the "don't look at him and keep walking" method of escape...but he kept at it. I heard things like "hey, confront me" and "fight"...this was getting interesting and people were stopping to see what was going on. Now, this guy was a skinny little man...Indian I think, and I had at least 65 pounds on him, but had no interest in confronting him. Luckily, there appeared an empty rickshaw, I jumped in, and my escape was complete.

Well, we all know about the election results by now. Many frustrated westerners here, some with a real hatred for George W. Bush. I'm not sure that's healthy. Not yet sure how Indians feel about GWB...I'll report back later once I've talked to some people and read the papers.

We have 3 days off coming up. Perhaps a good time to go somewhere, maybe not. I'll decide when the time comes.

Thanks for your comments...more later.