Diwali! -1

So, you might be wondering, what the hell is Diwali? Whats this chick on about? Well, Diwali is a festival here in India. Here's how you pronounce it - Dee - waa (open your mouth!)-lee. Okay so, pronunciation aside its basically the festival of lights and at night it looks so amazingly beautiful. Out of the darkness little pops of light jump up and fight for your attention in so many colors, every balcony is draped in these lights and little diyas(lamps and lanterns) outside homes, are lit welcoming you  and don't get me started on the sweetmeats!!Oh, ladoos and gulab jamuns! Anybody who does not know what they are - Google them!  I'll add a few pictures too!

          So, the gist of the story basically goes like this -

 After Rama, a prince was unfairly exiled by his step-mother for 14 years, accompanied by his faithful wife, Sita and loyal brother, Lakshman.

In the midst of these 14 years the evil king of Lanka (present day Sri Lanka), Ravana kidnaps Rama's wife, Sita and Rama searches for her and while tracking her, he helps the monkey king's brother. Sugriva who was wronged by his elder brother, the king. While helping Sugriva, Rama also gains his friendship and the friendship of another important character in this epic- Hanuman. Hanuman becomes Rama's ardent devotee and even sets Lanka on fire while trying to take back Sita. So, in the end Rama and Ravana have a show down which results in Ravana's demise and the triumph of good over evil.

           As I mentioned before this is just a gist there are much much more details that I haven't mentioned like Ravana having  10 heads! Its very interesting and one of the most respected ancient works of literature in Indian and world history, the Ramayana . (If you want to read it, there are numerous english versions available)

So when Lord Rama (yes thats right Lord Rama because he was actually an incarnation of a very important God, Lord Vishnu) returns home after 14 years, his subjects lit lamps all over the kingdom to celebrate and thats how Diwali came to be.

These little diyas are so inviting!

Imagine a whole sky full of them!