It's the festival of light and the start of a new year!
It lasts 5 days, but TODAY is the main day of the festival. Yesterday we all visited Kirti's house (she is our yoga teacher and a long-time friend of Sangam) for a Diwali party with lots of good things to eat (despite having filled ourselves with tacos for dinner). And today we're all going to Mina's (our Community Relations Manager) house for a similar party. As today is Diwali day, we've been exempt from wearing uniform - which outside of events is navy bottoms and any guiding/sangam related top - and allowed to dress up. The sari I bought is currently with the tailor having the blouse sewn, so Hayley has kindly lent me one of hers as everyone else is in saris. It's bright green with a purple puloo (the long bit that hangs over the shoulder) and very pretty. I'm on reception duty today, which means sitting and looking pretty, occasionally answering an email, and being on hand should we have visitors. Not all that likely today seeing as everyone's celebrating with family, but we are expecting someone to come look for our geocache. Hence I'm writing this post, and also flicking through some session manuals and other resources to keep on top of my event-prep-work.
The bad thing about Diwali is the presence of firecrackers. We haven't seen fireworks as such - a couple went up last night as we were walking to Kirti's, but they didn't bang which made me happy. HOWEVER there are lots of bang-y firecrackers, and boys (and men) just throw them in the street. I'm used to occasional bangs and pops from the neighbouring ammunitions factory, but being awoken more than 2 hours early by bangs from all around is not desirable; especially when one is not at all keen on firework bangs!
Diwali is pretty though - every house and window has lights in it and there are Diwali lanterns around as well. There weren't as many as I'd expected yesterday, but perhaps today will be different. The weather is cooling down a little bit as well; nights and mornings are quite chilly; but it's warm enough that we could walk down the road in just a single layer at 10pm. Lovely!
That's all for now - I think I've just come up with an ingenious idea for an activity so going to get on with that!
TTFN
It lasts 5 days, but TODAY is the main day of the festival. Yesterday we all visited Kirti's house (she is our yoga teacher and a long-time friend of Sangam) for a Diwali party with lots of good things to eat (despite having filled ourselves with tacos for dinner). And today we're all going to Mina's (our Community Relations Manager) house for a similar party. As today is Diwali day, we've been exempt from wearing uniform - which outside of events is navy bottoms and any guiding/sangam related top - and allowed to dress up. The sari I bought is currently with the tailor having the blouse sewn, so Hayley has kindly lent me one of hers as everyone else is in saris. It's bright green with a purple puloo (the long bit that hangs over the shoulder) and very pretty. I'm on reception duty today, which means sitting and looking pretty, occasionally answering an email, and being on hand should we have visitors. Not all that likely today seeing as everyone's celebrating with family, but we are expecting someone to come look for our geocache. Hence I'm writing this post, and also flicking through some session manuals and other resources to keep on top of my event-prep-work.
The bad thing about Diwali is the presence of firecrackers. We haven't seen fireworks as such - a couple went up last night as we were walking to Kirti's, but they didn't bang which made me happy. HOWEVER there are lots of bang-y firecrackers, and boys (and men) just throw them in the street. I'm used to occasional bangs and pops from the neighbouring ammunitions factory, but being awoken more than 2 hours early by bangs from all around is not desirable; especially when one is not at all keen on firework bangs!
Diwali is pretty though - every house and window has lights in it and there are Diwali lanterns around as well. There weren't as many as I'd expected yesterday, but perhaps today will be different. The weather is cooling down a little bit as well; nights and mornings are quite chilly; but it's warm enough that we could walk down the road in just a single layer at 10pm. Lovely!
That's all for now - I think I've just come up with an ingenious idea for an activity so going to get on with that!
TTFN
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