This is not a war zone...

So this week has been Diwali. I said right from the start that I felt I was really lucky to be experiencing Diwali in India. I've seen it all of my life in England, what with living in Leicester and everything. I see the Diwali lights go up, and look incredible, and I know that the party is happening outside when I hear the fireworks going off in the park behind my house. But I've always wondered whether that's just an English variation on the Indian festival, whether it's the same or whether western culture has warped it. Now I've had the chance to experience the real Diwali, how it's meant to be done! And it's mental. 

If you want a really good explanation of the story of Diwali (as well as a second telling of what I'm about to write here!) then please go to Jessica's blog by clicking HERE. She's just finished an English degree, and wants to become a writer, so it's far more coherent than I could ever manage! I would recommend reading some of her other posts too, because she can write properly (and doesn't overuse the words "amazing" and "awesome" as I am aware happens in this blog!) 

In Diwali at home, there are lights. The Christmas lights come up a month early, and they sparkle through the town. Diwali is the festival of light, so it makes sense. Here in India, there are lights too - on every shop door, in every house. As we would hang wreaths on our door at Christmas, they hang lamps outside theirs. But there aren't just lights. Like every festival in India, there are colours. Where there aren't lights shining, there are streamers, flowers, hanging decorations. There's rangoli on the floor (a type of sand art) everywhere, in front of each house. They also collect mud (I haven't investigated this tradition yet, the Indian staff haven't come back to work yet, so I can't ask... I intend to!) and build mud castles outside of their house, and put candles on them. There's tinsel up everywhere. It's just incredible.

In Diwali at home, there are snacks, and sweets. Clare told me the other day that she was pleased it was Diwali because she would get Samosas from some of the Indian staff. Here, there are sweets and more sweets and more sweets. Everyone gives sweets. To the extent that even the guy who runs the travel company we use dropped in to give us some sweets! The night-watchman on the night of Diwali itself came to find us in our rooms to offer us sweets. Most of the festival food is sweet, rather than savoury, and by sweet I mean basically pure sugar! The women in the family spend around two days beforehand cooking and creating culinary delights. I have had more sweets recently than I ever want to have again! And of course it's culturally inappropriate to say no... dilemma.

In Diwali at home, there are fireworks. People will buy a box and set them off on the park or in their back garden. Here in India, there are fireworks. There are firecrackers. There is noise constantly. The firecrackers started maybe two days before the main day of Diwali (26th October this year). There were just a few going off (and ironically as I'm writing this a whole load have just gone off!) to start off with. Mina and Aruna had both told us that they hated the noise, and Christa had said how much she hated it too. We weren't aware quite what they meant. Now I know. On 25th, we headed to Kirti's house, and there were quite a few crackers going off then. Enough to make a noise, and for us to recognise it as more than your average firework display. Kirti and her brother both warned us not to walk anywhere on 26th. Diwali day came, and started, for most Indian families, with chai (obviously) and then a bath, with some special bath rub stuff, including sandlewood, at around 5am for most of them (although like our Christmas, every family does it slightly differently). Once the bath was had, they went outside to light firecrackers. So for us here at Sangam who weren't wearing earplugs, the day began with a bang, or several thousand. The crackers continued all day, and eventually the noise became background. 

After dinner, being the brave/stupid girl guides/scouts that we are, we headed to Mina's house, on foot. It's just under a 30 minute walk, although we stopped off at Aarti's house on the way. Even taking this into account, it definitely took us longer than 30 minutes. We were stopping every 10 metres to wait for another firecracker to go off before we thought we were safe to walk. They had ones that just made a big bang, ones that made a fountain of light, ones that were like a Catherine Wheel, on the floor, ones that burst in several different places, and a few that zipped into the sky, and looked like they do at home. And these were being lit anywhere, just on the side of the street, and normally by small children with sparklers as lights. And when I say small children, I mean small. We saw one boy who must have been about four lighting one, and burning himself when he then picked it back up. The kids were lighting them, and then kicking them away, and if they didn't go off fast enough, grabbing them and shaking them, even though they were already lit. As I said at the start, mental. We negotiated the streets around them, with only one minor incident. 

We made it to Mina's house, and she gave us water and sweets (obviously) and introduced us to her family. Her son is in the army, but he was given a few days off for Diwali, so we got to meet him too. However, fairly quickly, her husband, son and daughter disappeared off downstairs with yet more fireworks. Some of the others went with them to watch, but I stayed inside, along with Philippa! We could see from the window... Mina lives in an apartment block, and here there are no safety warnings with fireworks, so it's completely ok to let off fireworks in the middle of the courtyard, with massive buildings around. This however means that the sound echos around. Sanjay, Mina's husband, is a big kid with fireworks. His favourite was a strip of fireworks that you lit one, and it just went along the strip making bangs and lights for at least a minute. Ellen has a video of it, so I will hopefully be able to link to it sometime. At the end, she says "This is not a war zone, this is Diwali". It felt more like a war zone than a festival though. Sanjay drove us home later, which we were grateful for! 

There are still some firecrackers going off today, and there will be until tomorrow I think, but it's nowhere near as bad as that night, thank goodness!

Along with most Indian festivals, Diwali is a time for family, and friends, and guests. People go out to visit others, and take sweets or sometimes just to say hi. But you don't really arrange when you're going to go to see anyone, and no one really arranges when they're coming to see you. People just drop by. So, there always has to be someone at home, your door should never be closed, and you always need a constant supply of chai and snacks... This is my favourite bit of Diwali. At Christmas, on Christmas Day, it's a family thing. Apart from maybe going to church, or going out for a walk (sometimes in the snow), people stay shut in their houses, in their own lives. And I used to think that I liked that about Christmas Day, but maybe actually I'm changing my mind. Maybe I like the sharing, the friendship and the fun that comes with having a constant flow of people. Maybe I think I would like a bit of both. 

What I do know however, is that no country should be allowed that many fireworks for one night, and India needs to crack down on small children playing with fireworks!