This has easily been the longest week in a very long time. Even longer than the previous one and that was a seriously painful week.
I was down with flu. I missed being a 19 year old who could just sleep in, monday to friday, instead of having to get up early, take the auto-metro-rick to college and speak for hours with a very sore throat, a fuzzy feeling in the head and a body that just wants to curl up in a nice warm bed.
The university where I teach has holidays in the first two weeks of october every year. Earlier this time would correspond with the beginning of the festival season in the country. In recent years however the festivals seem to begin a few days before october and go on till a few days after Oct'15th. This results in the holidays stretching on, unofficially.
September is all about navratras, ramzan, durga puja and this year Dussehra too seems to be falling in Sept. Which is why most students have already returned to their home towns. So unofficially yesterday was the last teaching day in this term. And since diwali is on Oct'17th and bhai-dooj a few days after that, the kids won't be returning before Oct'20th. That's practically a month of holidays for them! Ofcourse it's never enough as they were quick enough to remind me that last year the lunar calendar granted them a little more than 4o days of festivities! Needless to say I, for my part, am going to miss them alot, you can't help but grow fond of them.
Yesterday D's boss was on leave. So we had one of those once-in-a-very-long-time relaxed days. Had lunch at the india islamic cultural centre, which has an excellent restaurant, they cook some of the nicest indian food. Then walked down to Eatopia at the habitat centre, where we leisurely munched over some chocolate truffle. And checked out what was going on in terms of plays, movies etc. Just going to IHC can have such a soothing effect on your nerves, what with it's eco-friendly design. I wish I could have a home like that one day.
After that we went to Dilli Haat. That is one place we've never needed a reason to go to. There's always something to do there. Just walk amongst the stalls selling indian handicrafts - looking at some bits of silver jewellery or kurtas or silks or wood carvings or the lovely madhubani painting etc. In recent times it's become rare that we've picked up something, mostly because it's the same old stuff (for us) and slightly because, on the rare occassions that we have infact liked something, the seller has been more busy wooing americans/europeans! We did however stop at every single stall, D made sure of it. When we got tired, it was time for some momos at the Sikkim food stall (there is no better place for momos there). You know the sauce they serve them with, the one that's made up of red chillies and very little of anything else? Well, more or less it is spicy/hot to the same extent. Knowing which, D very confidently put five spoonfuls of it in each of our plates. After the first bite however, all we could say was "what have they put in this thing?!!" It was just so spicy. More hot than any chilli-based sauce or pickle I've ever had. We had tears running down our eyes, and running noses, and even then we couldn't resist it.
Eventually we picked up a whole lot of candles and diyas (lamps) for diwali from about half-a-dozen stalls of an association called 'Arunim' which works towards rehabilitation of mentally challenged people - it is an indirect initiative of the ministry of social justice and empowerment - infact the reason the stalls were so good this time was because this fornight they seem to have been given out to craftsmen identified under the same criteria. D & I usually do our diwali shopping together, looking for the best bargains, and we can confidently say their stuff was the prettiest we have seen in years. Bought some diyas handpainted pink, blue, green with sequins and what not.
It's safe to say that the festive spirit is well in the air. We went and watched 'Ramayan' a few days back at the Shri ram bhartiya kala kendra. It's one of the two main epics of hinduism. Basically Lord Ram did a whole lot of good deeds, and in the end killed the evil Ravana and returned home after 14 yrs of exile. Their 'Ram' wasn't as good as the previous ones we've seen but well the whole experience nevertheless was nice. The choreography, colours, costumes... AND the best part was at the end, at the exit there was this guy selling kiddy bow & arrows, swords and 'gadaa' (I am struggling to recall what it's called in english - is it a club?) - you know, the kinds they make out of cardboard, and then cover with alot of colourful chartpapers/cellophane sheets. And they fill the hollow part of the club with some stones or such-like, so that when you shake it, it makes that sound! I can't remember the last time I saw these things! I recall they used to be so popular when we stayed with my grandfather (before we left for muscat), and every year these sellers would ride on their bicycles through the streets, with these 'toys' mounted on a stand which was somehow fixed on to their bikes. That was easily 15 years back, if not more. RG & I were just so kicked to see them again! We,like the rest of the 5-10 yr olds there, surrounded that fellow and asked/haggled the price! We are now the proud owners of the biggest bow, one dozen paper arrows, and a smaller 'gadaa' :D Aah Fun-ness!
Yesterday there were garba/dandiya celebrations in our neighbourhood. In the garba, you use your hands to clap as you turn and twirl in circular formations which can be made of hundreds of people at a go. In the dandiya, you use wooden sticks instead. There's a vey distinct beat, to which you can only do the garba/dandiya, and nothing else!
It's the end of navratras today. Probably the enitre nation will be eating chana-puri-halwa! It also marks the end of 9 days of "no non-veg"! Ask anyone and they will tell you how much stronger the craving for any kind of non-veg is during the navratras!
Tomorrow is Dusshera. There will be huge effigies of Ravana (the evil demon) constructed everywhere, with 11 heads since he had so many of them, and they will be filled with fircrackers. In the evening, at the auspiciously determined time, all of them will be set to fire, thus marking the victory of good over evil. Diwali comes 20 days after Dussehra, when Lord Rama finally returned home - that's when we light the candles and lamps. More on that in 20 days time.
