Carol and Harold's India trip: November 5, 2010

Happy Diwali! We woke early and decided to take a walk around the area. What a pleasure; there was almost no traffic. We walked through several parks then a small village where the markets were open and ready for business. At 10:30, we met all the CCS staff and those volunteers who stayed in town for the weekend for another pooja (honoring the gods and goddesses). This was followed by sampling all the sweets that were brought as offerings.

After lunch, we did some half-hearted packing just to see how heavy our suitcases are now. For those who think we are bringing back lots of wonderful gifts, it isn’t happening. We have a 44 lb. one-suitcase limit for the domestic flights we are taking and we already exceed this. We’re hoping that we can use up lots of shampoo, vitamins and toothpaste and that will bring the weight down to the limit.

After dinner, Dr. Jafa (he lives in the complex and was one of our guest speakers) and his wife invited the two of us over for cognac and some appetizers. They are both very well educated and have two daughters living in Manhattan. They love the US and we had an interesting conversation on US and Indian politics.

The apartment complex is amazing; it is Christmas times ten. All the apartments have colored lights, but tonight many, many lit candles were added everywhere. In addition, the fireworks and firecrackers are incredible. We met the CCS group at 6:00 and spent about an hour with sparklers and various fireworks. It is currently about 10:30 PM and the noise is deafening and the smoke outside is thick. I wonder when we’ll be able to get to sleep.

It is difficult to believe that this is our last night in this flat; it has been our home away from home for five weeks. We’ll be sad to leave but look forward to the next part of the adventure.