Dewali Eve...

Day 2 in Belgaum was wonderful. Today is the eve of Dewali. More then the day itself, it's the traditions that it brings that I like the most.

Festivals in India are truly a ladies day. It's the ladies in the home that are the busiest. You can see them running around. Here down south, the ladies are dressed in their best. Shopping is done very briskly. Varity of food is prepared. Lot of Poojas are done (half of which I don't even understand). At the end of the day, ladies generally visit each other’s place to exchange sweets, good wishes and of course Gossips. Dewali would not be dewali without the ladies. I would definitely not have felt the spark of dewali if I had not had the food cooked by my sister and listen to God’s chanting from my mother.

As against the traditions of the day I woke up late. On this day, as per the traditions, we are supposed to take “Oil bath”. This is a specialty in this part of our country. What this actually means is that we have to smear ourselves with coconut oil. In the meantime mom has hot water ready for us. A few leaves of neem are them put into the hot water and we are supposed to have a hot bath. This, it is said washes away all the bad omen and brings you Good luck. I don't know about the good luck part of it – it defiantly relaxed me and made me feel drowsy. By the time bath is over and sleep was tightening its grip, it was time to have a hearty lunch. Felt very good to eat chapattis made my by small sister. Defiantly after a hot bath and hearty meal I could not stop myself. Slept like a baby – no tension yar – Its Dewali.

Tomorrow is the D day. Meaning tomorrow is Dewali day. I can’t wait to have the eat sweets (tomorrows specialty is a sweet dish called as "Holige" in our local lingo). I can’t wait to listen to the crackers. I can’t wait to see the night sky being lit up with fireworks. I can’t wait to see the beautiful “Rangolis” in front of everybody’s house to invite Mahalaxmi. I can’t wait to see the decorations done to everybody’s house in the night time. Oh God!!!! Why is everyday not Dewali? :-)