Festival of lights....

Diwali, The Indian festivals of lights...the name itself brings so many things to our minds - beautiful earthen lamps and candles, sweets, rangoli, new dresses, fire crackers usually top the list :)

Just like Christmas, people like to celebrate Diwali eve at their homes while exchanging gifts throughout the week and sharing the fun with friends and relatives. Being away from India, I do miss the family bit of this festival a lot! But I try to make up for the fun part as much as a I can :)
I celebrated this Diwali with all the things that topped my list :P - sequence of phone calls to India (talking to my family and close knit friends), preparation of some savories like Besan ladoo (agreed that I had to look up the internet for a recipe, the end result was mouth watering :P), Livermore temple visit (agreed that we spent more time in the queue for the yummy prasad than inside the temple), lunch get together at a friend's place (agreed that the friend cooked most of it :D ), watching Golmaal :D, lighting candles and diyas, making Rangoli (agreed that it looked like a art n craft project of a 5 yr old :P, there were pros to give it a finishing touch :) ), dancing, playing games, taking pictures, getting back home and lighting candles at my own place (agreed that everybody was already asleep and it was 1:00 am in the night :P) and oh I almost forgot getting dressed up in traditional clothes.....

Well that was my way of celebrating Diwali and I did have a lot of fun :)
Happy Diwali....

Those were the days....

Those were the days, when festivals used to be so colorful, when enthusiasm was in abundance, when our home used to be fragrant with home made festive delicacies, when we would start preparing for the festive season 2 months before, when we used to sit with our dad and make a huge list of things to buy, when we used to sparkle clean our home for festivities and still not get tired, when we used to go to Ram Leela every night during navratri, when we used to invite lil girls for food at our home, when we used to go see Dusshera festival where they burnt Ravan Statue, when we used to make our own Ravan Statue and fill it with fire-crackers, when all the ladies and girls would sit together for decorating their hands with Hena late at night and still manage to get up early in the morning to start Karwa Chauth, when staying hungry during fasts used to be so much fun, when Diwali used to knock months before with loud fireworks, when we would pester our mom to buy more n more diyas and candles to light our home, when we used to pester our dad to buy more n more crackers, when we used to make greeting cards with hands for everyone, when we used to buy new colorful dresses for the festivals, when we used to light our entire home with bright candles and diyas and not electrical lights, when we all used to sit for pooja on Diwali eve, when mom's Halwa Poori used to taste more delicious than a 7 star hotel gourmet food, when we used to get happiness from life's little pleasures, when we all used to be together!!

I miss those days, I miss India, I miss those festivals, I miss my home, I miss being together with my family.....