Wish you a very happy Diwali!!!

Little I had actually imagined that Diwali of 2007, I would not be in India. Infact, back home, celebrations of the festival are after 4 yrs. (due to some customs and traditions that my dad follows very orthodoxly).

Diwali that is celebrated for 3 days is a grand festival for us Indians all over the world. It does not matter if we are in India or AU or UK or US. Atleast all of them(like me) remember how its celebrated in India and have a virtual festival. Sweets is the order of the festival.

This is the season that most of the Indian companies also announce their Diwali Bonus. Most of the IT crowd do not even have this phrase "Diwali Bonus" in our vocabulary coz we are not entitled for it. We live for the yearly appraisal and yearly salary correction that happens in our companies

I saw a thought provoking article in one of the websites online. How one shud make use of the Diwali Bonus as an investment to get the value for money over time. The share market is all prepared for Diwali. The Share market already galloping from Dussera on I must say atleast 10 horses, now in the 19000s mark now. Reached the magical 20000 once in the transit too. And Diwali for the Ambanis must be a memorable one, celebrating to have been "The World's Richest Man" for some days and ofcourse the World's richest brothers now. CHEERS to Ambanis.

This yr, I'm not home for both the Dussera and the Diwali. Even in US, we colleagues and roomies have been doing the countdown for the festival for almost 2 weeks now. My colleagues also made sure that they buy some new clothes to wear for the festival.

This time its Diwali without crackers. Its almost been like 10 yrs since I Stopped bursting crackers as I had started to think, I am not a kid to burst crackers and had the thought that I'm adding to pollution by doing it. For the sake of my parents, I used to just pick u one hydrogen bomb from the Cracker box and burst it early in the morning by 7 AM and after that I used to jus prefer sitting at home, watching movies or doing some crap work!!

This time, its been more of thinking about what sweet to prepare at home and whats the reciepe. Seems like "Rice Payasam" will be the easiest and the fastest.

Incidentally, this weekend is again a long one. Monday being "Veteran's Day" here in the US. So, the tables have turned around. It is more of a thinking as to where to travel this long weekend. We have postponed all our shopping for the Thanks Giving as I will be leaving 10 days after then. Also my shopping list being a small one, I am sure I can finish it off in one day (half day would be an exageration).

Being in NJ and staying in Jersey City where most Indians stay, the Dussera was good with the Gujarathi crowd (they being dominant here) celebrating it with some stage shows and Dandiya all night. Even though, the Dussera night, we had been to Atlantic City and returned only by 3 AM in the morning, we could still see the crowd in the Indian Street. So, by that experience, it would not be an exageration to say that the Diwali celebrations *MIGHT* be as good as Dussera. I doubt though if I would be in Jersey City to witness it.

OK.. The Diwali has started and with the India v/s Pakistan Match scheduled for today noon, I guess most of the crowd would finish bursting the crackers and get glued to thier TV sets to see the Indians and Pakis burst it on the cricket ground. Hopefully India will get to celebrate Diwali at night 11 PM by bursting the crackers celebrating the Indian victory!! ALL THE BEST INDIA!!!