Diwali In the US of A.

Nov.3rd.2007.
I usually make it a point to go to the temple on Fridays. It was a Thursday evening & my daughter took me to the 'Lexington' temple since she has office on Friday. Heard, that the temple was constructed only a few years ago. Soon after you enter the temple premises, a huge hall welcomes you with people performing 'Yoga' as taught by a 'Yoga' specialist.

The temple is in the 1st floor. There is pin drop silence in the temple with people sitting & meditating before the Deities. The idols were made of white marble. The temple has Goddess Lakshmi; Lord Venkateswara; Lord Shiva; Lord Ganapathy; Goddess Parvathi; Then SriRama with Goddess Seetha; Lakshmana & Shri Hanuman. They have Navagraham also. They also have Jain God Mahaveer. The priest sat down to chant Vishnu sahasranamam. After the chanting got over we were given badam & cashews as prasaadam.

On our retrun from the temple, ramya saw a flier, in the notice board, that announced the 'Diwali' celebrations, that was gonna take place on Saturday. It seems in USA, they celebrate 'Diwali' on a saturday, for convenience's sake. My daughter was thrilled to see the flier.

On Saturday according to Ramya's wish, myself & her ma- in- law wore a silk sari, so also Ramya. Somehow we were delayed & by the time we arrived at the hall, it was overflowing with the crowd. With some difficulty we c'ld get seats, only to see two dance programmes. With a 'Mangalam' song & haarathi, the function came to a close & sweets were distributed to all. Then came the interesting part of satiating our urge to have yummy North Indian as well as South Indian dishes. There were soft, fluffy idlis with chutney & sambar; dosas; vada & sambar; bhel puri; samosas & also coffee; tea or cool drinks. Filled up our stomach with whatever we were able to. The 'items' disappeared fast as the crowd became bigger & bigger. Ramya was chatting with her friends for sometime, when an announcement came that 'the fire works' are gonna take place in the open ground outside.

So, all of us went to the open ground to 'watch' the spectacular fireworks that were taking place. Some people were even 'offered' a few crackers & Kamal was the lucky one to get a few & was sharing them with all of us. After the fireworks got over, we bid bye to Ramya's friends & returned home happily. On the whole, it sure, was a memorable evening since this is the 1st time I'm clebrating 'Diwali in the US of A with my daughter & son in law. Wish you all a happy Diwali.