Happy Diwali !!

Diwali in US is very different from what we use to have in India and specially at a place like Indore. When I try to refresh my memories of Diwali it use to be full of sweets, meeting people, crackers, new clothes, puja for at least 3 days. In use most of the times we will have Diwali parties with friends and do Puja together or visit a restaurant for party and dinner.
This year Diwali was very special for Ishaan because it was the first time he actually understood the meaning of celebrating Diwali, although he might not completely appreciate the importance of this occasion unless he see the celebration in India but at least he got an idea.
Few days before the actual festival we started explaining him why is it celebrated, he hardly showed any interest, but when I started talking about the story of Ramayan and showed him few videos of Bhagwan Ram killing the monsters he was very excited and asked for more details. More than knowing about Bhagwan Ram he was interested in Ravan because he had 10 heads. So now Ishaan knows the story that Ravan took away Bhagwan Ram's wife Sita and his brother Laxman along with an army of monkeys helped Bhagwan Ram to kill Ravan and get Sita back, and the biggest monkey who could even take Bhagwan Ram in his hand was Hanuman. Target Achieved :-)

We also had a small party at our community hall where we did Puja, played few games followed by Lunch. Ishaan was happy to meet his friends in the neighborhood and wish them Happy Diwali.

Another important event this Diwali was Neha's visit to Ishaan's school, his new Montessori tries to promote kids from different culture background and celebrate their important occasions with their school friends. Hence when Neha talked about getting sweets for Diwali, Ishaan's teachers were very supportive and encouraged her to talk about Diwali Festival. We prepared a small presentation to show all kids what Diwali means and tell them the story, but when Neha actually reached Ishaan's school with sweets, she was so surprised to see the preparation there. On the front door there was a welcome message wishing Happy Diwali for Neha in Hindi, teachers arranged for Rangoli design for all the kids so that they can color it and make Rangoli while Neha can guide them. One of the teachers brought a book on how to wear a Saree and showed everyone how to wear it, she bought bindis for everyone in the class to show that girls in India wear bindi on their forehead. Neha was so happy with this treatment and Ishaan was so proud that he mom came to school and spoke to all his friends about Diwali.

In yet another party on Diwali day, we met all our friends and did Puja and dinner with many many sweets. Host Dipika did a great decoration and made nice Rangoli at her place. But the most exciting part of this party was firecrackers, Ishaan for the first time actually put firecrackers and was very happy to do so with all his friends. We also decorated our house with lights and did Diwali Puja at home.

It was a good learning for Ishaan on how to celebrate Diwali, but soon he would forget all this as the time passes, I hope we get to celebrate Diwali in India sometime soon so that Ishaan gets an actual taste of it which he probably wont forget throughout his life and those would be the memories of real Diwali.