Diwali

October 23 - Diwali

Diwali is a Hindu celebration of "light overcoming darkness" and "good overcoming evil".  It is celebrated with generosity (gift giving), bright lights (just like Christmas) and fireworks!  Lots of fireworks.  Did I say lots of fireworks?!  I have never seen anything like it!

Our day started with a pancake breakfast at Frank's and it was delicious!   Then Bapo, the administrator, took a box of goodies out to the edge of the playing field and distributed bags of chips and wrapped cookies to the 50 or 60 boys.  I went and got the wrapped semi-sweet Swiss chocolates from my room and also gave each boy and some of the staff a piece.  They thought the chocolates would be sweet, but you could see by the look on their faces that it was a bit of a shock.

Afterwards there was a lot of litter on the ground, so I asked Bapo to announce a contest.  The boys who came up with the most litter would win a prize.  In 15 minutes the grounds were clean.  Four boys got a tinker toy car for having the most litter, and five boys got 2 marbles each for honourable mention.  I can't believe what they will do for a marble!  What a hit!

It was laundry time and I helped the little Hoover out by dumping in buckets of water since the filler tube was so very slow.  Laundry washed and hung out to dry on the refurbished clothes line.  It's hot here so it didn't take long to air dry.  Oh, there is no dryer.

During the day, Carsen hangs out with the boys in the orphanage, plays soccer, rides a bike giving rides to kids, chases after geckos and moles or rats, and generally has a good time.  The kids love him and they all get along well.  And I am constantly accosted with "Uncle, uncle!"as they try to get another marble or a car out of me.

In the evening, Akash led us down to the neighbourhood colony for a meeting at Pastor Dillip's home.  A half hour before we got there, he had killed a cobra snake in the front yard. Apparently, they are quite plentiful in the grassy fields around here.  After the meeting, we were served a dish of sweetbread, nuts and a banana.  There were 48 people in the living room!  

It was around 8:00 p.m. when the fireworks started in earnest and we made our way to the rooftop to watch.  The entire skyline in every direction was lit up with fireworks and the sound of explosions.  It was like a war zone.  And it didn't just last for 20 minutes like we are accustomed to in Canada. This went on til after midnight!  The neighbourhood kids also had a stash of fireworks that we set off in the alley.  The local dogs were panting and running to find refuge, but there was none to be found.  

Then a neighbour invited a few of us into his home for banana milkshakes.  Wow! What an amazing evening.  Then we walked home in the dark, to the flashes and bangs of continuous fireworks displays to have a late supper and head for bed.  The sound of the ceiling fan and air conditioner helped mask the thunder and we slept like dead men.