Happy Deepavali 2008!

I know, I am a bit late in writing this post considering Deepavali was a week ago, but, better late than never...

Like last year, it was low-key this year, what with Oggie being sick with ear infection and bronchiolitis, and Ana not feeling too great either, I decided to light some lamps (pictured above), and make a traditional meal, plus a traditional Indian sweet.

Thanks to my mom, I have a small collection of Kerala-style and Tamil Nadu-style lamps that I love to light on special occasions. Deepavali being the Festival of Lights was a perfect opportunity to get them out and light them to my heart's content.

Being a curious little girl, Ana wanted to know what I was doing and I explained a bit about Deepavali to her, and she helped arrange the lamps before I added the wick and the oil to light them.

As always, I can't let any of the traditional Indian festivals go by these days without feeling terribly nostalgic, and remembering all the little details I never thought I registered in the first place... just like for X'mas here, Deepavali being Festival of Lights naturally had us lighting a ton of lamps both inside and outside the house - little tiny terracota lamps for outdoors and metal lamps for indoors... the big thing about Deepavali was fireworks - lots and lots of it - noisy and bright and colorful and fun.

I don't miss the fireworks much, but I do miss lighting a lot of lamps, making rangoli, wearing gorgeous clothes and exchanging visits and sweets with family/friends/neighbors...