Little Diwali

Today is Little Diwali. Tomorrow is the main event. This is a BIG holiday in India. It is the celebration of lights, going back to the Ramayana stories of Ram’s return from the forest after being banished there. Apparently they had fireworks then and so…

At any rate we had breakfast at the hotel. It is a very luxurious hotel and the breakfast was delicious. It was served buffet style and you could choose from many treats. We especially liked the yogurt that was flavored with fresh fruits.

Our driver Vijay picked us up and we left for a day of shopping and sightseeing. He remembered us from last year and it was fun traveling with him. Cliff and Cathy had been taking Hindi lessons for the last few months and got to practice with Vijay as we drove thru the traffic. He would make a good teacher and we called him guruji in honor!

Ferris, here in spirit only, (she joins us next week) would have loved our mad dash from store to store as we tried on outfits rejecting some and buying others.
We went mainly to stores we had previously been to: Ogaan, Attire, Pratap. We are soon going to have serious luggage space problems. Oh well, we have overcome that is issue in the past.

We then were driven to Lodhi Gardens. These beautiful gardens are filled with walking paths, lily ponds and ancient monuments. The city of Delhi has had 7 different rulers over the millenniums. Each has left their mark in the form of monuments that are scattered throughout this beautiful city. Well at least New Delhi is beautiful, Old Delhi, being far older and congested would more appropriately be called charming. It is where most of the tourists go because of the Red Fort, the gigantic mosque and the lanes that twist this way and that under telephone and power cables that are attached like cobwebs above you.

After walking the park and climbing in and out of some old monuments we returned to the Hotel where they were preparing for Little Diwali (the day before the real one). On the large back lawn they had arranged free sweets (the traditional Diwali gift – if you don’t count bottles of scotch exchanged) and fireworks. We ordered a bottle of wine and sat back and enjoyed the pyrotechnics. The world over people like to view fireworks. I guess it fills some primitive need to know gunpowder is going off and not being shot at them!

We then had dinner at the hotel and went to sleep. Tomorrow is the big Diwali.