Community Spirit, March 2018

BEING INVITED AND
INVOLVED CREATES
TRULY UNFORGETTABLE
EXPERIENCES.
One of my favourite festivals is
Diwali, the most important date on
a Hindu calendar, which sees a 5-
day celebration of gift exchanging,
eating and praying to worship the
goddess of wealth. As big as
Christmas in the west, it is a
holiday focused on family and
loved ones. The buzz around
Diwali in autumn is electric as
people eagerly prepare for the
festival of lights. Cities like Jaipur
light up all the houses and
buildings with literally thousands
of colourful lights in an
extravagant and over-the-top
display. On the main nights of
Diwali, the sky is an explosion of
colour as fireworks explode from
every rooftop and ears are covered
as kids throw countless
firecrackers on the ground. The
city is quite literally alive and
shaking.
BEING A WITNESS TO
SOME OF THESE
CELEBRATIONS IS SIMPLY
WONDERFUL
But no festival in India is more
crazy and colourful than Holi ‘the
festival of colours’ that takes place
in February or March to mark the
start of spring and the victory of
good over evil. The streets are
bursting with people
enthusiastically smearing coloured
powder and soaking each other
with water guns and bombs, the
energy and joy of the frolicking
enhanced by scores of musical
instruments and banging drums.
I was lucky enough to be invited to
an Indian wedding; a Bollywood
explosion of luminous lighting,
princess dresses and a draping of
golden jewellery by the carat load.