When speaking to Westerners as in Europeans and Americans, I have often told them that Diwali is to us what Christmas is to you. It is true for a vast majority of the Hindu population in India. However, not true for all.
Hailing from Kerala, there are two primary festivals we celebrate, Vishu, the harvest festival and new year and of course Onam. The rest of the festivals are celebrated but with not that much of aplomb and festive fervor as these two festivals call for. Diwali, the festival of lights to a lot of people means good food, new clothes, lights, crackers , sweets and basically party. Diwali in my family is basically eating the sweets (which the Diwali celebrating neighbors in Muscat give ), and lighting two smaller lamps and placing them at the entrance to the door. So by now you get the drift - I don't get oohed and aahed by "Oh it's diwali". I am more the type who goes like "So how many days vacation do we get for Diwali?"
Part 2 - Stuck in Chennai?? No way!!
Diwali holidays last year were on 12 and 13 of the November , which fell on a Monday and Tuesday respectively. Combined with the weekend that was 4 days of holidays, 4 days of paid vacation. And 4 days I had no intention of staying in Chennai. "Chennai is a beautiful city- with arts and culture, and a great place to hang out which you will love " was what my Tamilian friends had told me before I landed here. And Whoa!! what a shocking surprise ! Chennai may be full of arts and culture, but it was polluted, dusty , had a weather which had no intention of giving you a peace of mind, red lights you can whizz pass by, and green lights you had to be extra careful while crossing, auto drivers who love to splash out 3 digit figures to go to the nearest shop 2 kms away, and they blame it all on the metro. I can still go on, but I you get the drift. I am still not too fond of Chennai, though my Tamil friends keep telling me I still have not seen the real Chennai.
Moving on, the thought of staying in Chennai for 4 days straight was too depressing . I looked at other people in the crowd like me , for whom Diwali was no big deal and not going home was an option, and up came another Indo French partner in crime and a Mallu, who were not particularly doing anything for Diwali. We had two options ahead of us .. Delhi for Diwali for which the round rip flight was 12,000 Rs or Sri Lanka for which the round trip was 8000 Rs or so (though thanks to my last minute booking idea, we ended up paying more ). Thus the Diwali trip materialized in going to Sri Lanka. 2 Mallus and 1 Indo French forming the Michelin-teers (though Mallu 2 would love to hate the idea of another trip with the rest of us).
And So that's how I left Chennai for another country and celebrated Diwali, as my friend put it " the Land of Raavan". It was refreshing, relaxing and relieving to leave Chennai behind and What a break from Chennai it was !! Lesser traffic ( lesser people ) , lesser pollution, and yeah, it reminded me so much of Kerala, courtesy the coconut palms that line the roads in the country, the cloudy weather and "pittu (aka puttu in malayalam )" breakfast served by the landlord at one of the places we halted.
Hailing from Kerala, there are two primary festivals we celebrate, Vishu, the harvest festival and new year and of course Onam. The rest of the festivals are celebrated but with not that much of aplomb and festive fervor as these two festivals call for. Diwali, the festival of lights to a lot of people means good food, new clothes, lights, crackers , sweets and basically party. Diwali in my family is basically eating the sweets (which the Diwali celebrating neighbors in Muscat give ), and lighting two smaller lamps and placing them at the entrance to the door. So by now you get the drift - I don't get oohed and aahed by "Oh it's diwali". I am more the type who goes like "So how many days vacation do we get for Diwali?"
Part 2 - Stuck in Chennai?? No way!!
Diwali holidays last year were on 12 and 13 of the November , which fell on a Monday and Tuesday respectively. Combined with the weekend that was 4 days of holidays, 4 days of paid vacation. And 4 days I had no intention of staying in Chennai. "Chennai is a beautiful city- with arts and culture, and a great place to hang out which you will love " was what my Tamilian friends had told me before I landed here. And Whoa!! what a shocking surprise ! Chennai may be full of arts and culture, but it was polluted, dusty , had a weather which had no intention of giving you a peace of mind, red lights you can whizz pass by, and green lights you had to be extra careful while crossing, auto drivers who love to splash out 3 digit figures to go to the nearest shop 2 kms away, and they blame it all on the metro. I can still go on, but I you get the drift. I am still not too fond of Chennai, though my Tamil friends keep telling me I still have not seen the real Chennai.
Moving on, the thought of staying in Chennai for 4 days straight was too depressing . I looked at other people in the crowd like me , for whom Diwali was no big deal and not going home was an option, and up came another Indo French partner in crime and a Mallu, who were not particularly doing anything for Diwali. We had two options ahead of us .. Delhi for Diwali for which the round rip flight was 12,000 Rs or Sri Lanka for which the round trip was 8000 Rs or so (though thanks to my last minute booking idea, we ended up paying more ). Thus the Diwali trip materialized in going to Sri Lanka. 2 Mallus and 1 Indo French forming the Michelin-teers (though Mallu 2 would love to hate the idea of another trip with the rest of us).
And So that's how I left Chennai for another country and celebrated Diwali, as my friend put it " the Land of Raavan". It was refreshing, relaxing and relieving to leave Chennai behind and What a break from Chennai it was !! Lesser traffic ( lesser people ) , lesser pollution, and yeah, it reminded me so much of Kerala, courtesy the coconut palms that line the roads in the country, the cloudy weather and "pittu (aka puttu in malayalam )" breakfast served by the landlord at one of the places we halted.
