Happy Diwali!!!

Celebrated Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, this past weekend. Everyone lights candles, hangs colorful decor, eats sweet snacks, dances the night away, and ignites the town ablaze with the most amazing rural fireworks performance imaginable. I love India - the lack of strict regulation makes anything possible! Today, for example, I didn't fit on the bus so I clambered onto the roof of the thing, all the while ducking to avoid tree branches and electric wires. Nobody seemed to care as long as I paid my fare.

So, back to Diwali, and the lack of regulations: Fireworks are sold freely, of all magnificent shapes and sizes, to all ages. Eight year old Tibetan kiddies stand on the road setting off glass-shattering explosions that terrify every dog in a five mile radius. At night, looking down into the valley, one can see a dozen rockets shooting into the sky at any given time, many of them exploding into brilliant blossoms of color. Which so much poverty, I can't imagine how folks afford such a festival; even the children of Charan had bags of firecrackers (though they were likely purchased by a tourist). It's interesting (and often nice) to live in a community that values celebration over whatever difficult living conditions one must face.

Cheers!