Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali @Saregama and anyone else here who celebrates the festival of light!

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Celebrate the goodness!

Happy Diwali to everyone celebrating.

Now I’m craving some Indian sweets. I should have stocked up in Toronto!

I think dinner tonight will be my Malabar Biryani kit.

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And treat yo selves!

There is a store here in Ottawa (NASA Foods) that has a lot more sweets at Diwali (today and tomorrow, this year). I never got in in past years because of the long queue (don’t have the stamina to wait in line), so I went there yesterday, hoping to avoid the queue. Other people had the same idea; queue again, so I didn’t stop.

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I get it. I hate cues.

Thank you @BarneyGrubble and everyone else!

A very Happy Diwali to all!

Diwali is about gathering with friends and family and community, good triumphing over evil, and light emerging out of darkness. And, of course, lots and lots of food — sweets, savories, and everything along to the snack to meal to dessert spectrum!

When we were kids, it was part of the holiday tradition for all the kids in a building to dress up first thing in the morning and visit ALL the neighbors — not unlike trick or treating, but you sat and chatted at each place for a few minutes, ate some snacks and sweets, and then the group moved to the next home.

My grandmother was apparently a favorite stop for her homemade cold drinks, which no one else offered the kids - they were reserved for adult visitors. But October is the hottest month of the year, and when you’re a kid dressed up in Diwali finery, it gets very, very warm very fast, so a cold drink was a treat!

It’s been a quiet festival so far for me, aside from a silly frenzy of making a few special things over and over for various kid recipients.

Diwali sweets and savories are always traditional ones that are set within each family. Modern twists and experiments are reserved for parties or people you don’t know :joy:, and even then only things you’ve already tested out — no one wants a dud dish at Diwali, and you’ll never live one down!

I’m traveling to spend the rest of the festival (another 3 days for us) and my nephew’s birthday with family, and so will miss my usual close friend gatherings in nyc (one friend in particular is currently very mad at me about it, but nephew birthday will trump Diwali party as long as said nephew wants me around for his birthdays, which is maybe another year if I’m lucky!)

My bag is weighed down with food — some Diwali things, but mostly bagels because, as the birthday boy said to me yesterday, “I really NEED bagels!!!” Also cream cheese (had to explain to the bagel shop guy why I wanted the pound packed in little 1/4 lb cups — yay for TSA!)

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Diwali started on Monday — it’s actually a week-long festival. So everyone was shopping “on time”!

Last year, I went to the one sweet shop in Jackson heights that has a special spread at Diwali (I think they fly in halwais / sweet makers from India because the sweets taste different / correct vs the rest of the year) — I don’t generally do queues, but this one was festive and everyone was in a celebratory mood, including the many non-Indians on line!

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Enjoyed a tasty meal at Aangara that included mango lassi, apps: crispy shrimp, veg samosa, garlic naan and a sizzling chicken platter.

Happy Diwali!

Oh, ok. The store has the special, though, for only two days.

When I lived in Uganda, you couldn’t miss Diwali. There was a very large Indian community (pre-Idi Amin), and the homes were lit up. The best part for me was the sweets….:yum:

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That’s just mean! Though the place I mentioned in Jackson heights also only has the spread for 2-3 days.

Meanwhile my mom had to put in the specialty sweet and savory orders 3-4 days earlier — the favorite places just stop taking orders and you only have access whatever they made extra of after that!

Many of the Uganda gujaratis went to the UK. I noticed even Surati had mogo somewhere on the menu, so they must also be via-Africa.

One of my uncles grew up in Uganda, and only last year did I hear the harrowing tale of how they escaped overnight, but one sibling got left behind and had to be smuggled out a few months later. Even my mom had never heard the details of the story before.

(I realized this might be a trigger after I asked, so I quickly caveated and said we could talk about something else if it was too hard — though he’s in his 70s now. He said he was happy to share, because no one on our side of the family had ever asked him to talk about it before, and then he teared up while telling the tale, and also how it felt to go back to visit with his family two years ago.)

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I was lucky I got out the year before the expulsion to come to university in Canada. I’ve heard horror stories from others. Fortunately my parents and sisters got out okay. I have lots of friends (all Ismaili) who have gone back to reclaim property, or on vacation. I’ve not been back, and can’t do so now on instructions from my cardiologist.

BTW, I have vivid memories of an emergency assembly in high school where we were told to go straight home and not go looking for trouble as there was an attempted coup and gunshots could be heard. Talk about heart in the mouth!