Happy Diwoley!
In the early days of the STAR TV foray into the Indian Middle Class Household, there were several interesting attempts to endear themselves to the Indian market. One such funny attempt I remember is Richard O' Brien, host of my then-favorite game show "Crystal Maze" wishing "A Happy Diwoley to all our Indeeyan viewers!"
I'm reminded of that as I celebrate Diwoley - the Western version of Diwali, seventh year in a row.
Here's my attempt at describing "What Diwali used to be" versus "What Diwoley is now"
Being woken up grumpy-turned-excited by my mother at 4:30 a.m - Being woken up grumpy-turned-grumpier by my cellphone alarm at 7:45 a.m.
Wearing a new salwar kameez or sari - Wearing a new-though-so-last-season shirt I got on sale
Being dragged to the temple by my mother - Being dragged to another fruitless meeting by my boss
Eating gooey delicious barfis and laddus and mysore pak and badam halwa - Eating semi-sweet-chocolate-chip-and-walnut cookies
Going to all the neighbor's houses to eat their gooey delicious barfis and laddus and... - Walking past the people I've lived next to for over 2 years without knowing their names or sharing more than a "hello" much less Diwali sweets or even cookies for that matter!
Watching the kids burst firecrackers and see the sky light up with colors - Watching the leaves fall from the trees and the sky turn dark earlier everyday
On the positive side - all is not lost! There are valiant attempts to turn this Diwoley into Diwali by traveling 200 miles north to Seattle to celebrate it with my cousins and their friends, complete with saris, gajar-ka-halwa, Bollywood blockbusters (both Om Shanti Om and Saawariya, if you MUST know!) and desi-khana-parties with co-NRIs.
All I have left to do then, a la Richard O'Brien, is wish my Indian readers a Happy Diwoley :)
I'm reminded of that as I celebrate Diwoley - the Western version of Diwali, seventh year in a row.
Here's my attempt at describing "What Diwali used to be" versus "What Diwoley is now"
Being woken up grumpy-turned-excited by my mother at 4:30 a.m - Being woken up grumpy-turned-grumpier by my cellphone alarm at 7:45 a.m.
Wearing a new salwar kameez or sari - Wearing a new-though-so-last-season shirt I got on sale
Being dragged to the temple by my mother - Being dragged to another fruitless meeting by my boss
Eating gooey delicious barfis and laddus and mysore pak and badam halwa - Eating semi-sweet-chocolate-chip-and-walnut cookies
Going to all the neighbor's houses to eat their gooey delicious barfis and laddus and... - Walking past the people I've lived next to for over 2 years without knowing their names or sharing more than a "hello" much less Diwali sweets or even cookies for that matter!
Watching the kids burst firecrackers and see the sky light up with colors - Watching the leaves fall from the trees and the sky turn dark earlier everyday
On the positive side - all is not lost! There are valiant attempts to turn this Diwoley into Diwali by traveling 200 miles north to Seattle to celebrate it with my cousins and their friends, complete with saris, gajar-ka-halwa, Bollywood blockbusters (both Om Shanti Om and Saawariya, if you MUST know!) and desi-khana-parties with co-NRIs.
All I have left to do then, a la Richard O'Brien, is wish my Indian readers a Happy Diwoley :)
posted by RTD2 at 11:04 AM
8 Comments:
Happy Diwali! Mysore pak with all the good stuff (shudh ghee!!)...sigh.....
Happy Diwali! i pestered my mom to wake up at 02.00... I absolutely HAD to wake the neighbourhood with a cake/hydrogen/atom bomb or atleast a Lakshmi/Vishnu vedi.. :)
siiiighhhhh..
Om "Shanthi" Om? What movie was that?
SD - you know, I got lucky...I still have some Mysore pak in my freezer, I think I'll just help myself to some now :)
Zeppelin - man, you were one of the kids I blamed for ruining my morning then!
Parth - oh oh, guilty as charged. I committed the one sin I blame other "Madrasis" of committing! Blame it on the fact that the only time I've spelt "Shanti" was with an H in my friend's name :(
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Happy Deepavali! :p
Nothing like good ol' Diwali to make us all nostalgic! So how was the Seattle Diwoley-turned-Diwali get-together?!
Lucky you! You get to watch Om SHanthi Om! I really really wanna watch it!
Oh RS, Diwali-turned-Diwoley was spectacular! On Shanti Om is, in my opinion, one of the most entertaining movies in a long time. Like one review put it: "It's a big sloppy kiss to Bollywood" - It's a very clever homage to the silliness, the magic and the drama that's Bollywood.
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