Happy Diwali

The month of Diwali has always been very special. This is when lots of festivities are taking place, and also the change is in the air. The summer is gone and new season and life are inviting us. People away from home surely miss being with family and friends and do the best they can to celebrate the spirits of Diwali. The primat focus for us in the US has been the temple. Here are some pics from Lemont temple here in the suburbs. The occasion is Dusshera. Lots of programs are going on at this time. Dusshera baazar is on where one can buy Indian stuff like clothes, jewellery, books, etc. Also, Ramleela is going on the whole day as well. We missed it this time, though, because we got too busy eating the good dosa. All this is followed by phuljharis. It was misty this time, and in the quiet of the temple campus, kids had a ball feeling the heat of the phuljharis is the deeping cold with bollywood songs providing the perfect backdrop. One almost felt one was a hill station thanks to the foggy and misty evening.


The phuljhari play was followed by Bhagwan Ram's idol brought out.

After the puja, were the spectacular fireworks. Kabir clung to me while Krishi kept looking asking us to bring it to an end. The favorite of all was the stengun like shot firing that ended the display in style.

Once all this was done, Rawana who was tied to the ground all this while was set ablaze smbolizing the end of all evil.
The celebration continued into Diwali. Being a weekend, it gave us a good full day to celebrate. The day started with cleaning of the house, and also the Buddha idol that I had bought several years ago from India (during the quest for hukka). The idol had gathered dust for a while and was surely due for cleansing. In the evening we went to Toysrus and got the kids some new toys. That was followed by puja; kids also participated and spoke prayers in zibberish. Then they did the phulzaris that we had got from the temple during Dushhera. Today we plan to go to temple and then a Diwali gettogether at the friends place. Wishing everybody happy diwali and a great year ahead.