Happy Diwali
Today is Diwali. This is the Indian New Years Eve. Its a time when Indians burn money (in the form of fireworks) and light up houses and roads with a gazillion candles and oil lamps. Its also when (allegedly) King Rama returned to his huge Kingdom after 14 years in exile in a place called Panchavati. During that time he is said to have mashed up another King by the name of Ravana, who was King of Lanka. They had one momentus mash up due to the fact that Ravana kidnapped Rama's ever so alluring [I was going to use another word beginning with S to describe her, but I fear the almighty hand of retribution] wife Sita. The story gets very complicated, and I'll be honest here, it is very intellectual in comparison to most so called Religious/Historical stories. There is a bit of 'did they or didnt they' and Rama/Sita's kids, who have ace names of Luv and Kush, also make an appearance towards the end. The end of the epic basically symbolises the end of the Golden Time of Indian History. Shortly after that India entered the Kali Yuga - the age of depression and darkness and not something from Indiana Jones : please take note TOC. Lucky for us, a few hundred years after that we got another King by the name of Krishna to talk about; but thats another story.
So tomorrow is the Indian New Year - so Happy New Year to all the Indians too. Another quick lesson - India is so huge and varied, that each region has its own chronology. The North Western Beach areas are in year 2061 or something like that, in the age of King Vikrama. They liked their Kings didn't they?
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dp
So tomorrow is the Indian New Year - so Happy New Year to all the Indians too. Another quick lesson - India is so huge and varied, that each region has its own chronology. The North Western Beach areas are in year 2061 or something like that, in the age of King Vikrama. They liked their Kings didn't they?
--
dp
Fireworks and lights and stuff are always good. Especially in the depths of winter.
Me, I'm looking forward to Saturnalia ;)