All God's Children need Travelling Shoes: Let me take you round the streets.........

Firecrackers just outside

Last night I met up with Mark our course leader and we had dinner on the roof terrace. It was quite magical with the fireworks going off all round us) After we had eaten we were invited to the hotel owners family celebration of Dwali and we were told we could take photographs. In the end I didn't because I was invited to take part in the ceremony which was wonderful (apart from having to sit on the floor...the knees are not what they used to be! )

It was the actual day of Dwali and everywhere has to be cleaned to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi. A "Lakshmi pooja" was performed to seek divine blessings from the Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi, who helps those who strive to achieve wealth. It consists of a ritual using grains, leaves, coins, and idols to prepare a ceremony. During this ritual, you can invoke the Goddess by reciting the Vedic mantras or by thinking of her being showered with gold coins with two elephants standing. The ceremony was finished with having an aarti. A lit candle with camphor in the bottom of a small dish was put on a metal tray and everyone takes turns in circling it over the table - clockwise. The purpose of performing aarti is the waving of lighted wicks before the deities in a spirit of humility and gratitude, wherein faithful followers become immersed in God's divine form. It symbolises the five elements: space,wind,fire,water and earth. It is very much a time of family love. The ceremony was finished by the sister-in-law putting a red dot on our foreheads. Celebration sweets are also eaten (which are delicious) I was quite moved by all this and felt very privileged to have been asked.

This was the family table

Today I was at a bit of a loose end. I had slept late so it was almost lunch time before I arrived for breakfast. The hotel was empty and one of the young lads was called back from his 'holiday' to cook me a pancake. He did it with a big smile. I felt so bad that I gave him a 500 rupee tip which is all of about £5. He took that with a big smile and when I had finished my pancake he reappeared with a friend and wanted to know if I had realised how much I had given him. I told him I had and to go and have a good time..... he ran off with an even bigger smile. Apparently to him it was a small fortune.... so good!
I decided I needed to go and do some shopping so got a tuk tuk to take around the markets, he had failed to tell me that most of the shops were closed because of the holiday! However, I found one store open and met these cheeky chappies who asked to have their photos taken.