Happy Diwali

Diwali, is a major Indian and Nepalese festive holiday, and a significant festival in Hinduism and some of the other faiths. It originated as a harvest festival, marking the last harvest of the year before winter. In an agrarian society this results in businessmen closing accounts, and beginning a new accounting year. The deity of wealth in Hinduism, Goddess Lakshmi is therefore thanked on this day and everyone prays for a good year ahead. This is the common factor in Diwali celebrations all over the Indian subcontinent. With time, many legends became associated with Diwali, and today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being. Diwali celebrates this through festive fireworks, lights, flowers, sharing of sweets, and worship. (so says Wikipedia)
Our experience with Diwali was a lot of fun and excitement as well. Thursday night was a party at Radha's - a ton of fun and fireworks. Wikipedia mentioned fireworks, but not with a lot of editorial - it's more like explosives/dynamite/mortar fire / blowing up the place. I had a call for work that night, and it sounded like I'd been deputed to a war zone. No more fear of that - so that's good. The fireworks actually started earlier in the week and were pretty constant. I didn't detect any organized fireworks displays in an open field with the fire dept nearby. Here in this democracy, every home should light there own, sometimes professional quality explosives in their street or garden (right in the middle of the city or neighborhood lane). Some believe in lighting the fireworks starting at 6am and going all day long. On the way to the party people were lighting serious fireworks in the middle of the city - picture on Hennepin at rush hour. Safety first here in India. Not. Not sure if I'd be amused if it were all the time, but it was certainly an interesting spectacle for a week. The air quality was amazingly poor by the end of the week though - the pollution was so thick it looked like fog - I should have taken a photo but sadly didn't.
Anyhow, it was a fun festival, and a good party at Radha's. On Friday for the actual holiday, Ashish and his wife Shailaja had a group from Target over to celebrate with their family. It was their first time not going home to Delhi for the holiday - and I think the number of guests made up for the commotion. It was great to see the more personal side of the holiday, oh and to light fireworks with a good friend.
Saturday was a sort of "day after" with the street entirely piled with the spent shells and debris of the fireworks - serious addition to the piles of garbage already there. But a totally peaceful weekend with good weather and relaxing by the pool - reminiscent of the day after the 4th of July up at the lake. It is seriously hard to believe it's November. And it was Diwali. And I live in India...who would have thought?