Diwali – Festival of Lights (festival of “crackers”!)

It is Monday morning and Diwali (or Deepavali) has come and gone. Our quiet street is littered with debris and wrappers from hundreds of firecrackers set off this weekend. Everyone is moving a little more slowly, as the city resumes its normal routine after the big holiday.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we felt very fortunate to be in India for the nine-day Navaratri festival in September. Diwali, known as the “festival of lights,” is an even bigger Hindu festival, and the build-up for it was huge. Diwali commemorates the homecoming of King Rama after a 14-year exile in the forest and his victory over the demon-king Ravana. According to legend, the people of Ayodhya (the capital of Rama’s kingdom) welcomed their king home by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (dipa), thus the name Dipavali. Traditionally, people light diyas—small clay pots filled with oil—to signify victory of good over the evil. Although Diwali is only a one-day holiday (held on October 18 this year), the festivities last throughout the week. It is worth mentioning that President Obama observed Diwali this year by lighting a ceremonial lamp at the White House -- a gesture that had a big impact here, and even made the front page of The Hindu newspaper. People in this part of India celebrate Diwali by visiting family, wearing new clothes, giving gifts, eating lots of sweets, and setting off fireworks (“crackers”). And just like in the United States, there are constant newspaper and TV ads encouraging people to shop – for sweets, for clothes, and even for electronics!

Earlier in the week, Mike purchased firecrackers for us, and on Thursday evening (Oct. 15), we went out into our street to join in the fun. Some of the crackers, such as the sparklers and spinning chakara wheels, are fairly safe, but others explode with such ear-splitting noises and terrifying showers of sparks that I know they must be illegal back in the U.S.!! As our kids shared their sparklers, they watched some of the scarier looking firecrackers being set off – one of them was so powerful that the sparks shot up four stories past the roof of our building!! In addition to the smaller fireworks, there are huge ones (like the kind we have in Cedarburg for July 4^th) being set off all over the city.

On Friday night, we were invited over to a party at my yoga teacher’s house to watch the fireworks from her roof. It was fun, although we knew it was time to leave when some of the louder crackers went off and my ears began ringing! Even on our quiet street, the firecrackers started up again at six a.m. on Saturday morning, exploding like gunshots and continuing non-stop. It was then that I was truly glad we had decided to spent part of the weekend away, at a resort in Mahabalipuram, about an hour south of Chennai.

Thus far, we have stayed at some wonderful hotels in our Indian travels, but nothing could compare to this place – the GRT Temple Bay Resort. Granted, it was a little above our usual budget, but we felt Diwali was a good excuse to splurge. It was well worth the money for the amazing pools, the clean stretch of beach, and the gorgeous facilities. Given the price, I thought perhaps we would only see Western tourists, but right away we ran into some of James’ classmates from Vidya Mandir, who were on vacation with their families! There are times when I miss the cool fall weather of Cedarburg, but as I lay on my back, floating in a swimming pool overlooking the Bay of Bengal, I felt very fortunate to be in such a tropical location.

On Sunday morning, we went out to explore more of the rock temples around the area. We had already visited some of them in September (written about in a previous blog), but we had missed a few places. Our favorite spot was the Five Rathas, a series of 7^th century rock-cut temples and animals (a lion, a bull and an elephant) that are amazingly well preserved. We also visited Crocodile Park, a truly creepy place, somewhat like a small zoo, where we could see dozens of crocodiles piled up on one another. At first, they appeared so still that the kids remarked scornfully, “How lame – they’re fake,” until one of them suddenly awoke and opened his huge mouth full of teeth. Note to self – never underestimate a crocodile! All too soon, it was time to head back to Chennai, but we have already decided that we will be visit the Temple Bay Resort at least one more time before our stay in India is up!