diwali #2

Last night we attended our company wide Diwali festivities at the local Hindu temple. In past years it was held in the temple hall, but this year because of a scheduling conflict it was held in the main hall that could hold at least 1000 people. The sound system was absolutely amazing and the Indian music sounded wonderful. The event started at 6:30pm and we arrived early at 6:20pm. For all of the times I have been in India and knew better, still for some odd reason I forgot Indian Standard Time. When we got there, a good friend of mine who was the master of ceremonies for the evening was the only one there! At least I got to talk to him for a good 20 minutes as we are always too busy at work for a relaxing conversation like that. At 7:15pm there was but a hand full of people present, a couple of them I knew so there was plenty of time to talk. This event for me is all about talking to friends from work, some of which I never get the chance to talk to about non-work related things. Two of the people I talked to are in my own group and I seldom get any time to talk to them. That is sad, but I took advantage of the time last night and had a great time.

Diwali

Today was the local Diwali Festival. We have attended this celebration around many times previously. In the past few years our daughter accompanied us, but this year my wife and I went by ourselves as are not cool any more I suppose. At the Diwali last year, our oldest son went with us also as he had just moved into his own house down the road from where they have the festival. What a difference a year makes as that was the beginning of all kinds of trouble for us. This year he is nearly at the end of his Army boot camp and a totally different person from last year, which is a great thing.


For me, this year was the best Diwali ever as we met and talked to several Indian friends the five hours we were there. We went early so we could see the younger kids dance as they are he cutest things ever in their Indian saris. I talked to a co-worker who designed all of the backdrops for the stage and the main logo when we first arrived. I had been wanting to talk to him outside of work for some time. Of course I had to stop by and see the man who we rent all of our Indian videos from as he always recognizes me. It was not that hard in past Diwali ceremonies, but this year there seemed to be many more white faces in the crowd. Next I met the husband of a co-worker who I had met last year at a company Diwali party. As I was talking to him I spotted a next door neighbor of ours when we first moved to this area. I watched where he sat with his wife and without being too rude, quickly went over and started talking to him. We saw him a couple of years ago with his family at another local Indian event but had not seen him since. Right as we were leaving I saw another co-worker who I play cricket with and of course had to stop and talk to him for an extended period of time. For me this is a perfect way to spend an afternoon, talking with Indian friends and getting to know them better. Makes me want to go back to India!