Diwali :The Festival of lights

Last year I was in Goa backpacking for Diwali, and I remember lots of fireworks and people mulling about. It seems to be the biggest Hindu festival celebrated, probably comparable to Christmas for us in the west and Ramadan (Ramazan) and Eid for Muslims. Diwali is celebrated on the first day of the kartick lunar calendar and can fall in October or November. I also just remembered that I was with my good friend Manon in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia in October 2005 for Diwali. Malaysia also has a large Indian population, and I remember seeing so many beautiful lights while I was there.

Diwali is the festival of lights, where the lights signify good over evil with every human being. Now I'm not Hindu, but this seems like a fun festival to celebrate. Whether you are Hindu, Muslim or Christian, I think the premise of good over evil is something we can all relate to. However, only Hindu's actually celebrate this festival. For the last week the neighbours have been lighting firecrackers and they scare the crap out of me. That's how people celebrate it here, they light firecrackers and candles.

How will I be celebrating Diwali?? I get 2 days off from work!!! That's celebration enough for me!! Muscles is Muslim and I'm Christian so we'll keep it low key and enjoy and watch fireworks. But the city is usually in chaos during festival times, and most of the time it's just better to stay home or close to home rather than stuck in the crazy amounts of traffic that will pile up during this time.

I have attached a few pictures of Diwali when I was in Malaysia. I haven't yet seen anything quite like that here, but I haven't been through the city yet since I work nights. Perhaps this weekend I'll roam around and see if I can get some pictures. But for now you can enjoy these ones taken a few years back of Diwali in Malaysia. These pictures are courtesy of Manon, because I lost a lot of my pictures when my laptop was stolen a few years back. Sad, but true story.

NB** Manon just reminded me that the first photo is actually of Diwali in Singapore, the second one is in KL, Malaysia. We were also in Singapore for Diwali and actually stayed in little India while we were there!
Thanks Manon for the reminder!!