Misc. Rantings, Goodbye Wendy and Diwali

So we were doing Pooja the other day to bless and get long life out of our electronics, car, etc. The pooja was in full swing when Billy demanded to take pictures with our digital camera. He was trying to grab it out of my hands while I was filming said pooja for prosperity sake when the little bugger lunged for the camera and knock it out of my hands causing it to break. So much for the pooja.

I then travelled all the way to the other side of town to the only Canon repair shop in Asia. The guy took the camera, accused me of purposely breking it and scolded me for opening the camera and loosing two screws. This was not going well. I calmly explained to him while my hands were slowly trying to wrap there way around his neck, that I did not purposely break my own camera and that I have never opened the thing except to change batteries and retrieve the memory card in the event that we actually print a photo.

Saravana convinced me to remove my hands and he would settle the matter. We left the camera shop on the 29th of October and they have not answered my calls since. Finally on the 13th of November they told me they had sent the camera to Delhi and would call me the day after tomorrow night and update me.....

Having guests come in visit is truly a highlight and when they have to leave it is not. Wendy braved the "Indian" Continent, the loudamericans and their equally loud friends and blessed us with her presence. We had a great time travelling around India and Bangalore itself. Two weeks goes bye very fast however she has hundreds of pictures that she generously let me download, and many memories of her trip.

We have a small guest room that is always open and while people stay here the kids can not go into the room without permission of the guest, in this case Wendy. We couldnt keep them out of her room when she was here. I dont blame them, we wanted to be with her all the time too:)

Of course, once she left, the kids are now refusing to go into the spare bedroom as its "Wendy's room". ay even said "It smells like Wendy in here". I asked her what that smelled like and she said "Wendy", and I said, but what does Wendy smell like and she said "Good, just like Wendy".

Jimmy was very sad he didn't get to give her a hug. He kept talking about Wendy all weekend and how he "missed saying goodbye in person and I didn't even get to give her a hug". I must have heard him say that at least 10 times.

Wendy - You are missed and loved!

Diwali is an event that is celebrated all through out India. There are many places you can go and get the Historical version of this event, http://www.diwali.com/, http://www.wherearethefishers.com,%20www.wacmiller.blogspot.com/ to name a few.
I say this because I am going to provide an accurate and up to the minute 2007 version of Diwali. I will reference only one book which is the lonely Planet, India. On page 518 the is a description of Diwali which reads"fireworks are let off by the population".
It fails to mention that Diwali is actually spread out over the life of your fireworks inventory. For some people it is only a 5 minute affair and for others it never "f"ing stops!!!
These people and the fireworks or crackers are relentless. This Festival is rumoured to begin on or around November 8th which is 30 days after the birthday of Ganesha, I digress.

It really begins when the hordes of " Star Fireworks" stands begin to set up on every street corner and the match vendor arrives then it is world war 3.

There are so many crackers and they make the most ungodly noises you can literally go mad.

They have these knock off 's a stun grenade that I call bunker bombs. The fuse is about one second long and the noise level is deafening.

The colorful candle bombs burn long enough to cook a meal for a family of 4 and the relative of the"bottle rocket" can go any way but up!

I mean all of these things are banned in most countries but not here. Hell a 6 year old can walk into a booth and buy these things. (Not to worry, we didnt let Jimmy anywhere near the fireworks stands...)

Now the other piece of Diawli info I will pass on is the part of India celebrates during the day and another part at night. Yep 24 hours of fireworks. I feel sorry for the daytime celebrants as they go deaf without seeing the colors. However it could be said that the night time celebrants are going deaf and blind. Either way Diwali is the most celebrated Festival and the people of all ages are living their youths.

People do other things when they are not trying to blow up their own neighborhoods, like exchange gifts,hand out sweets and Diwali cards, families have nice dinners and meet friends and then it is back to the outdoors and the matches.

Diwali is a combination of the 4th of July, Thanksgiving,Christmas and Saint Erhose Day all rolled into one.

I am sorry for not providing photos but is is not the day after tomorrow night yet...