….

I finished the kOlam. I arranged the lamps…searched for the camera…and realized it is not a ca”mera” (mera is mine in Hindi)…the actual owner has taken it to Hosur to take photos for a PowerPoint presentation. So….wait, wait….

Meanwhile….

Dhanteras (Teras, 13th day of the waning moon, this one devoted to wealth and its Goddess), which the media have converted to a gold-buying day (you will probably have paid the highest rates if you bought it yesterday, that’s what market sense says); Naraka Chaturdashi (Chatur dashi, 14th day of the waning moon, Naraka is Hell in Sanskrit, named after an Asura who was vanquished today), and then, on the new moon day,  Deepavali or Lakshmi Puja or Kali Pujo; Bali Padyami, when Mahabali is supposed to have come back to earth from the nether world where Vishnu in his vAmanAvatAr sent him; closely followed this time by Id, at the end of the fasting month of Ramazan/Ramadan….festivity is in the air. The market was looking SO very lively and crowded and full of activity when I went to buy flowers just now. Feeling so happy….and yet, missing having my children (daughter and son in law) with us…why should one miss children more during festivities? Ridiculous…

Many people have FIVE days (!!) of holidays and have gone out of town.

I found a very nice saree that I bought 30 years ago and must have worn only a few times…wearing it now, and waiting for KM to come home. The sweets and savouries are all set out (my hands nowadays just itch for the camera!), the lights are up…

Giving thanks that everything is right with my world; sparing a thought for those whose world is not all right, for various reasons. Luck and happiness seem to light so randomly in people’s homes.

Photographs soon.