Deepavali Festivities

For several days, every street corner was the scene of bombs blasting, crackers exploding, bottle-rockets whizzing, sparklers sizzling, and flower pots cascading, but now it has died down to a quiet buzz only heard in distant parts of the city when I stand on my rooftop.

Even though the bombs, crackers, bottle-rockets, sparklers and flowerpots are probably made by child labor and are extremely polluting, I lit my fair share over the last few days, admittedly with some guilt, but also a lot of excitement and adrenaline. Originally, Prev and I had plans to head out of town and explore Ooty, a Tamil Nadu hill station, but after the bus accident that didn’t sound like a very good idea, or very relaxing. Instead, I chilled in Chennai and I was invited to spend the Deepavali holiday with two families. And both homes ardently support celebrating deepavali with fireworks. But we also celebrated one of India’s biggest holidays by eating, sleeping, wearing new clothes, taking an oil bath (oil head massage), watching TV, and of course lighting more fireworks!




It was a relaxing and festive weekend! Lots of time at home watching episodes of ‘Friends’ and ‘The Office’ balanced with family festive time. I also managed to get our new futon, buy a cover for it and cook a few tasty meals too!