We had a simple, festive Diwali this year. After getting home from work, Aditya and I immediately set about following a Bengali family tradition. Fourteen candles (diya in Hindi, prodip in Bengali) were lit in honor of fourteen ancestors – seven from your mother’s side, and seven from your father’s side – while we each took a moment to silently think over the things that our families have done for us to help us be the people we are today. After a few moments of prayer and appreciation of the glow of the candles inside, we took them outside so that the rest of our neighborhood could enjoy their light as well.
Afterwards we cleaned ourselves up a bit, then headed out to pick up appetizers (the expected-yet-still-delicious samosa) for Aditya’s brother & sister-in-law’s Diwali party. We arrived right on time – i.e. early – and helped finish setting up the decorations before the rest of the guests. Great food, good conversation, and a nice clear night. Can’t ask for much more. I hope everyone else’s Diwali weekend is going wonderfully!
Aditya picked up the tealights and holders from IKEA. Ah, IKEA - the place where tealights are so cheap, Maa and Baba purchased some to take *back* to India!
After lighting all fourteen of the candles, we took a moment to appreciate their light and the meaning behind them.
Afterwards, we put the candles on a tray (also from IKEA, like 90% of our household) and carried them out to the front yard. The dogs were, as always, highly interested in anything that originated in the kitchen.
We discovered a little neighbor when we went to set the candles down. Lucky for this newt (?), the dogs didn't notice him.
Kajol waited patiently for us to finish up by the front gate threshold.
After dressing in kurtas, we headed over to Dada and Bhabi's house for their Diwali party.
We helped finish up with the decorations for the party after we arrived, including placing these tealights around the Buddha in the garden pond.
If you’re interested, a few more photos of our Diwali evening can be found on my flickr page.
Happy Diwali, everyone!
7. November 2010 at 12:56 pm
Hey!!!
This is Americaaa!! Dude. What about American festivals????
7. November 2010 at 1:12 pm
What about ‘em? We didn’t do anything for Halloween because we’ve been too busy unpacking, and Thanksgiving isn’t ’til the end of the month.
7. November 2010 at 4:07 pm
I love the picture of Kajol in the doorway! Our main Diwali event was giving the dog a nice bath and the gift of a new Nylabone. We put a few diwali lights on the porch after it was dark, but otherwise our celebrations were at other people’s houses. That’s fine with me since it means I didn’t have to clean up very much. Glad your first Diwali in you new home was so nice.
7. November 2010 at 7:37 pm
@Ultimate Troll 2.0: please keep in mind that there are plenty of American Hindus. Diwali is just as American as Passover, Easter, or Eid.
7. November 2010 at 8:36 pm
Naaaah! It ain’t no federal holiday, blondie.
7. November 2010 at 7:58 pm
Great photos. I didn’t have as many candles but it was the first time I celebrated diwali so i can be forgiven. i tried to make it a little special for Rabindra especially because he couldnt celebrate tihar with his sister
7. November 2010 at 11:15 pm
Happy Diwali. Jackfruit’s family also does a puja to dead ancestors on the third day of diwali.
Love your candle pics, and you two make a great couple (but you probably already knew that, hehe)
7. November 2010 at 11:54 pm
Looks like a blissful Diwali..loved the last image with the Buddha image. May I invite you to link this lovely post to the Diwali Dhamaka Carnival at The Keybunch?
8. November 2010 at 10:39 pm
I loved all the pictures and can’t wait to comment on them in Flickr. So glad you put them up! Your dogs are adorable and the rich red colour and lights in the pictures make me think of Christmas. Happy thought.
On a totally random note, I once baby-sat a dog for whom Kajol would have been the absolutely perfect name. I didn’t speak Hindi at the time so Kajol didn’t come to my mind, but I insisted on calling her Cleopatra because her eyes were totally rimmed by about 1/4 in. thick of “kajol”. I had never seen anything like it. Is that why you named your one dog that?
9. November 2010 at 12:45 pm
yep!
10. November 2010 at 11:18 am
What a lovely Bengali tradition; I’ll have to ask my husband if there’s anything similar in Tamil or Telugu culture. If not, I’m tempted to borrow yours.
We performed a simple puja in the morning and lit sparklers, which is always fun — and makes me wonder what the neighbors think. We also went to a deepavali party on Saturday; I should have the post up tomorrow.
10. November 2010 at 12:23 pm
Happy Diwali!
We didn’t do much on Diwali. I had checked with a couple of friends of mine and they were going to the temple in the evening. Vivian and I stayed home and watched a couple of movies – one Hindi and one English. At 9:30 in the night I went out for a soccer game and she went to sleep.
After my game, at 11:30, I went over to a (bachelor) friend’s place. There were a few others at his apartment and people were playing poker. It is a almost a ‘tradition’ (mostly in north Indian communities) that there should be ‘an exchange of money’ on Diwali and hence gambling is intrinsic to Diwali. Everyone had enough of poker by then and decided to switch to ‘teen patti’ [3 cards – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_Patti. People pooled in $5 each (I know, small stakes!). We were playing till 3 in the morning, and I still had some chips in front of me. Decided to end my game by going ‘all in’ on a ‘blind’ hand. Lost and happily bade everyone good night and left.
13. November 2010 at 12:20 pm
14 candles for 14 generations – bong tradition or GG invention? Never heard of it that way. Dead ancestors homage traditionally happens in gaya.
15. November 2010 at 2:22 pm
my family has done it since as far back as i can remember – i’m not sure if it’s a bengali thing or a rajput thing or just a family thing…
why would you think GG is trying to invent this??
18. January 2011 at 1:52 am
its your family’s thing
21. November 2010 at 9:04 pm
Looks like fun and meaningful tradition shared together–that’s the best!
6. January 2011 at 7:12 am
I came across your blog this morning & I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts, very lively & interesting!
Keep up the good work!
6. January 2011 at 7:14 am
I came across your blog this morning & I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts, very lively & interesting!
Keep up the good work!
18. January 2011 at 1:53 am
gorigirl, as suspected . from what happened to you i am rethinking my intercultural relationship with my girlfriend
18. January 2011 at 11:45 am
what happened to gorigirl? we’re still happily married!
8. February 2011 at 5:48 pm
Where is she?!?!
18. January 2011 at 12:56 pm
oh my bad! sorry. my parents had reservations so i had to break up with my girlfriend
they said in the long term interethnic marriages dont work out. moreover i think they were concerned abt society. i know, very weak arguments but they were very disturbed abt this so i quit
8. February 2011 at 5:48 pm
Come back to the blog world! I miss reading your entries and miss you commenting on mine!
Hope you are well and things are going good in all aspects of your life.
20. June 2011 at 9:44 am
Hi I write a blog called in the search of love. In his search of love documents my struggles between the decision of an arranged marriage or to persue true love.
I would love to be on the list of blogs you read and would also like your input on making my blog better.
29. August 2011 at 1:00 am
I miss your blog posts
please continuing posting?
27. November 2011 at 4:23 pm
Hi, I love your blog. please do start posting again. hope everything is going well for you. can’t wait to have you writing again!!!
10. February 2012 at 3:32 am
My guess on the silence: They are having a baby!
And really, this is when the rubber hits the road. Without children in the picture, compromise and overlooking minor issues is so much easier. Inter faith and inter cultural issues are fun to examine and discuss at length. Once a child arrives and the sleep deprivation kicks in combined with different perceptions of what is good for the child – the trouble begins. From what I can tell and the amount of open communication this couple seems to have, they will weather this storm in their lives. It is always hard though.
My advice for other couples that are in this boat – don’t make it harder than it has to be. If you feel you can live without each other – do so now. Do not bring children into a marriage where common bonds are greatly outnumbered by differences. The hard truth.
In any case I enjoy stopping by here once every few months and am disappointed with the lack of updates. I sincerely wish it is not bad news and wish this couple the absolute very best in life. If any mixed couple I know of, that deserves to make it ‘forever’ – these guys do.
13. February 2012 at 7:11 pm
no baby – just lazy
12. February 2012 at 3:53 am
Hey did u guys stopped the blog.Haven’t heared for a long time.
14. February 2012 at 12:34 am
Well, I like the blog and hope you add more at some point.