first of all, I just discovered that the comments on this blog were set to allow blogger members only. I've fixed that, so anyone should be able to comment. Second, I now have some photos online! I'll post a few in to my blog entries, but for a wider selection, look at my flickr page:
emily's flickr
Diwali weekend is drawing to a close. Diwali is a festival of lights, symbolizes the triumph of good over evil, has a variety of mythological tie-ins (the only one of which i understand has to do with the return of Ram and Sita from exile, when lights were lit to welcome them back to their kingdom) and is also considered by some to mark the beginning of a new year. It seems to have a variety of ceremonial, mythological and symbolic significances which i don't know enough about to explain properly, but i have now experienced how it's celebrated in Varanasi, and it's pretty wild!
Diwali itself was on Saturday. On Friday, Andria, Prashant and i braved the madness that is pre-Diwali shopping in order to get some nice Indian outfits for Andria and i to wear on Diwali. I think we had reasonable success:
On Friday, in the early evening, some of the staff organized a Diwali celebration for the kids at Tulsi Kunj, which was wild but really fun. I hadn't realized that Diwali was a fireworks celebration. It is. Once most of the Tulsi kids had gathered, a few kids were encouraged to sing songs, tell jokes, or recount the stories behind Diwali for the assembled audience, and then the pyromania began. Tulsi Kunj is a building with mostly marble interiors, and a courtyard in the middle surrounded by balconies. The fireworks were lit off in the middle of the courtyard inside the building, with at least 100 kids crowding around. It was a little scary, but turned out to be safe enough and the kids were pretty gleeful, clapping and shrieking with delight at the showers of glittering sparks. They each got a box of sparklers, too, and went nuts with them. It was a crazy, joyful start to a beautiful Diwali weekend.
On Saturday we had lunch at one colleague's house, but other than that it was a slow day, broken by the comical interlude of trying to rescue Prashant's swim trunks, which had fallen from the balcony to a platform far below the balcony, but still far off the ground using only a frying pan on a long piece of string.
There was also a beautiful heavy afternoon rain which left the air and earth feeling clean and fresh. In the early evening, two of the WLC staff who live across the lane from the office came over to lead us in a pooja at the Ganga Mahal, involving a simple ceremony before the statues of Ganesh and Laxmi, and the lighting of candles and oil lamps in the courtyard and in every room in the building. The Ganga Mahal lit by candlelight was a beautiful thing, but we had to rush away to the home of another colleague who had invited us to dinner at his family's house on the University campus. We spent a lovely evening with his family, who welcomed us warmly and allowed us to join in their own pooja, delicious family dinner, and lighting of beautiful fireworks in front of the house. Diwali celebrations seem to place an emphasis on the home and family, so having the opportunity to be part of a family celebration was wonderful.
From dusk til the wee hours of the morning, the air was filled with the constant bangs, flashes and sparkles of fireworks all over the city. Riding home in a rickshaw late in the evening, we watched the sky light up with red and green and blue and silver stars, as our rickshaw dodged children lighting off small but deafeningly loud firecrackers in the streets. When we got home, we discovered the swedish students who live upstairs from us, but whom we had yet to befriend, were holding a fireworks party on the roof of the Ganga Mahal. We were invited up to join them, and saw for the first time the breathtaking view of the river and city that this building's roof commands. There were still constant fireworks in every direction, and we watched them for a while as we talked with our new acquaintances, before going in for late night chai and conversation.
Tonight, again, there are fireworks all over the city -- leftovers from yesterday, i suppose. it sounds like the city is under siege, but by now they've become background noise to me, and I'm sure I'll sleep soundly tonight.
I'll finish this with two photos: one of the Assi Ghat and river bank in front of our house in the early morning light:
and the next of a message painted on one of the Ghats downriver from here:
Fortunate indeed.
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