Diwali ~Festival of Lights

Last week was Diwali here in India. While Diwali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light".* A very new agy philosophy rooted and central in Hindu religion and customs is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind. After some research on this topic we found it explained that just as we celebrate birthdays (the birth of our physical being) Diwali is the celebration of this inner light.This inner light is in particular the "knowing of which outshines all darkness awakening the individual to one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality."* With the realization of the inner light supposedly comes universal compassion, love, and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). "This inner light and higher knowledge brings Ananda" (joy or peace)* "While the story behind Deepavali and manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying reality of all things (Brahman)."*

Photo of the little girl:(free)courtesy of michaelckw.blogspot.com.

This is a crazy holiday and probably bigger than any other of the calendar year. Diwali is a day to give presents, candy, and jewelery and gifts to loved ones and much like any other holiday is filled with much noise and fan fair, however this festival outweighs them all by way of the amount of noise. We were warned it would be comparable to a real war zone and it truly sounds like that. If we had not been warned we might be hiding underneath our beds and thinking it was the end of the world. It really was that crazy! Not over exaggerating or anything here, but people spend thousands of dollars on firecrackers and chains of them 10,000 long and fire them off. So the amount and length of the noise is unlike anything else we have ever heard. One strand of crackers can last for 10 minutes straight and sounds exactly like automatic weaponry firing at will. There are no safety laws here either or awareness of safety that we can see. While we loved to watch the entire ordeal from our balcony it was horrifying to watch little tiny children lighting some big rockets sized fireworks off and not getting fast enough out of the way. The other thing that made us nervous was some people we saw who live in some apartments near our house who were lighting fireworks off their balcony. Remember I said "balcony apartment" (which here means the same as back in the states) there is often an apartment above them and they were shooting them directly into the roof of their balcony which ricochet off and went all sorts of different directions. Ay YAY YAY! I could not watch as I was terrified that some little one was going to have his toes ripped off or worse lose a foot or two. I am sure it happens as we watched several people encounter some close callsThe fireworks and crackers were going on all week but at a distance...they really started more heavily the night of November 4th and went all night, all day the 5th, all that night, and really taperd off but could still be heard for the rest of the week. Amazing!.

It was a beautiful site. We had such a great view off our balcony. It was one of the best fireworks shows ever as the entire skyline at times were filled with firey colors exploding into other colors...It was better than the NYC Fireworks show on the 4th of July (I would know, I have been there, right Aunt Linda?) and better than any show in the US as these fireworks when on for 24 hours straight! We had wished we had requested reservations at a local roof top restaraunt to get an even better view of the city but alas we were too late in doing so and every one in town was booked. Although we did not participate much in this particular holiday it was beautiful and it was neat to be here to witness it as it is an experience we will for sure never forget.

* Quotes taken from the blog: His Grace Is Sufficient at: http://michaelckw.blogspot.com/

-Jenny

And the WINNER Is.....

The winner of the surprise package from India was commenter #8. That is Molly! Thank you Molly! Please e-mail me your full address (so I can confirm I have it) and make sure it gets to you safey! Congratulations! And thanks so much for you involvement on our blog! More of these lil giveaways to come!
-Miles & Jenny

40 More Facts About Our Life In Chennai, India—Plus a Giveaway!

A few weeks ago we posted “50 Facts about Chennai” (which you can read here if you missed). Well, we’ve been here a while longer now, and we are always learning or noticing interesting things about this place, so we thought we would do another one.

51. Road and lane direction are not set in stone. One of the roads I take to work is two ways most of the time, but one way in the morning and early evening.

52. Stoplights often have timers that count down how long a light will remain green or red.

53. This seems like a good idea, but everyone here starts going on red once it the time gets down to 5 seconds.

54. Traffic cops are often in the middle of the roads directing traffic even when there are stoplights.

55. Policemen here all have the exact same mustache. We joke about it being a requirement to be a cop because we have yet to see one without it.

56. Traffic cops pull people over by waving them to the side of the road.

57. We know this because our driver in Delhi (not Rama) ran a red light, and we got pulled over (oops).

58. India is a very overcrowded country.

59. This overcrowding spills over into customer service too. Grocery stores the size of an AM/PM will often have about 12 employees working and offering to help you find something.

60. Even automatic ticket machines in parking garages have someone standing there to press the button and hand you your ticket.

61. The overcrowding causes people here to have no concern for personal space.

62. In a line it is common for a man to be standing directly behind us pressing up against us. Not out of any strange intentions but simply because of lack of the sense of personal space.

63. There is a sign on the elevator at Amnet’s offices that says only 8 people to an elevator.

64. I’ve been in that elevator with 12 people.

65. It is common to see men holding hands or walking with their arms around each other.It doesn’t mean anything. They are just very comfortable showing physical affection here with each other.

66. However, it is not common to see men and women (especially older) holding hands or showing public displays of affection.

67. Most marriages in India are still arranged, although that is starting to change in the bigger cities.

68. Marriages that are not arranged are called “love marriages”.

69. Our Driver in Delhi was very curious about how marriage works in America. He seemed shocked to find out that virtually no one practice arranged marriages.

70. Different trees are in bloom and flowering all year round as create more color and beauty to this place we call home.

71. There are three seasons in India: Hot, Hotter, and Rainy.

72. We are currently in the monsoon season (October and November), although it hasn’t been too bad yet.

73. Chennai has the best tropical storms. When the lightning is far away it will flash several bright flashes in a row like a strobe light. When it is close the streaks are visible and the thunder is instantaneous and deafeningly loud.

74. Apparently, it is not required to turn off your car when stopping to fill it up with gas. We have seen several cars with their engines running while their gas was being pumped.

75. When someone dies there is no embalmment. They are laid in a glass coffin and wrapped in some sort of thin paper like tissue paper that covers their neck down to their ankles.

76. We know this because we were stopped in traffic next to one of these dead bodies.

77. For the funeral the streets are filled with a huge procession of drummers and dancers in a parade and petals are flown into the air.

78. Hindus are usually then cremated (more than one body at a time) and then the ashes are spread in gardens and in the local rivers.

79. It is strange being minorities and also tourists while living here. We are usually stared at wherever we go.

80. We also get many requests for pictures. It seems like locals take more pictures of us than we do of them.

81. Obama is currently visiting India, but not Chennai. He is only going to Delhi and Mumbai.

82. Indians follow American politics a lot more than we follow anything in India.

83. The front page of The Hindu’s (one of India’s biggest national newspapers) website today: “Republicans take House”.

84. Trash build up is also a problem in India both in and outside the city.

85. There are some very pretty looking forested areas, but the ground is still covered with garbage.

86. We often see wild pigs, stray goats, or even cows eating the garbage in the forests or on the side of the road.

87. Public urination is not really frowned upon here. We see men peeing on the side of the streets all the time.

88. People here prefer to drink room temperature water because they think cold water will make them sick.

89. People also often drive without headlights or turn them off at stoplights because they think it will save gas.

90. Our driver in Delhi told that Hinduism is the best religion because they get to choose their own god. In other words they have a lot of gods but they can choose which one they are most devout to.

That last one is especially sad, but we love it here regardless and are having the time of our lives soaking it all in. This place and the people here certainly have their quirks, but all in all it is fabulous, and we are loving the process of learning and growing and the adventure that each day brings.

- Miles and Jenny

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Well it is November! And you know what that means! It's Giveway time, as promised! One lucky commenter on this post will come away with a secret surprise gift from India. So comment away!!

The winner will be announced on DIWALI ~Friday, November 5th (your time).

Good Luck and have a great day!*******************************************************************