Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is the most popular of all Indian festivals. In the old days, I used to celebrate it in Brick Lane in London, and this year, I quite unexpectedly celebrated it in Ghana, thanks to my colleague Romain and his Indian wife Promina!
The festival is a time for thoroughly spring-cleaning the home and for wearing new clothes and most importantly decorating the house with fancy lights. The celebration involves lights, fireworks, heaps of Indian food. It was also a great excuse for me to wear one of Promina’s salwaar kameez and a bindi! And for Franck to borrow one of Romain’s kurta pajamas for a very good rendition of Sharukh Khan.
But there is more to it, especially in Neha and Amit’s house with its little temple to Lakshmi. We did the pooja, praying and feeding the statues of Lakshmi bits of sweets and yoghurt. Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, pleasure, and abundance - all the goods things in life! She is the mother of Kama, the young god of love and is adored by gods, demons and humans alike.
We had great fun, and got scared just right setting alight lots of different fireworks and bangers, and I am now the proud owner of a little golden Shri Ganesh temple, a gift of the very thoughtful Neha. I reckon there are not many of them in Ouagadougou!
The festival is a time for thoroughly spring-cleaning the home and for wearing new clothes and most importantly decorating the house with fancy lights. The celebration involves lights, fireworks, heaps of Indian food. It was also a great excuse for me to wear one of Promina’s salwaar kameez and a bindi! And for Franck to borrow one of Romain’s kurta pajamas for a very good rendition of Sharukh Khan.
But there is more to it, especially in Neha and Amit’s house with its little temple to Lakshmi. We did the pooja, praying and feeding the statues of Lakshmi bits of sweets and yoghurt. Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, pleasure, and abundance - all the goods things in life! She is the mother of Kama, the young god of love and is adored by gods, demons and humans alike.
We had great fun, and got scared just right setting alight lots of different fireworks and bangers, and I am now the proud owner of a little golden Shri Ganesh temple, a gift of the very thoughtful Neha. I reckon there are not many of them in Ouagadougou!
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