La Salle Debain

Wishing every one a happy Gujarati New Year, Vikram Samvat 2073 named Kilaka and hoping the upcoming year will be yuuge for you.

These next couple of paragraphs are totally not an excuse for why it will take a few more days for me to reach seven blog posts.

Reading reports about Diwali in the American press, I see a bit of confusion whether Diwali is one day or five. Well, technically it is just one (Sunday 30th this year.) but there are a number of other observances around it which could be classed as subsidiaries if you want to look at it that way.

The season commenced last Wednesday with Rama Ekadashi. (where the Gujarati name is different I'll use that and put the Sanskrit name in parentheses.) That's a fast day and therefore not much fun.

Thursday was Vagh Barash (vyaghra dvadashi) which as the name suggests is something to do with tigers but we don't in my experience particularly do anything special that day.

Friday, things began in earnest with Dhan Terash (dhana trayodashi) when Lakshmi the Goddess of prosperity is worshipped. It is also a good day to buy gold.

Saturday was Kali Chaudash (Kali Chaturdashi or Naraka Chaturdashi) On this day many Gujarati families including mine worship their Kuladevi (patron Goddess of the family) even if She is not an aspect of Kali. (Others observe this on the Ashtami of Navaratri.) The day is also associated with the God Hanuman. Some people say it is His Jayanti (birthday) though we observe it in Chaitra (March-April.) It is also the best day for learning mantras and I initiated a couple of people including my son into a mantra I know.

Sunday was Diwali (Deepavali) proper. As a Brahmana I spent much of the day signing blessings in the account books of shopkeepers. Well, nowadays only a few old people have actual account books so usually the print out a spreadsheet and I sign that. But home is where the main action is. Lights are lit, fireworks are set off, and prayers are offered to Lakshmi. But most important of all, this is the day good boys and girls get presents. Unfortunately I have nothing interesting to report; just the usual utilitarian items of clothing. Fireworks by the way are technically illegal in New Jersey not that that ever stopped anyone from getting them. The past few years, Jersey City has attempted to compromise by allowing a big public fireworks display. Although it was nice and sunny all day, by nighttime we had torrential rain and the firework display got washed out. So I'm glad I rebelled against the system with my small cache of sparklers.

Today (or yesterday by the time this gets posted.) was the Gujarati New Years Day. There is also the commemoration of the time the God Krishna lifted up Mt Govardhan with one finger which every mandir emulates by making an annakuta or mountain of food.

Tuesday is Bhai Beeja (Yama Dvitiya in Sanskrit or Bhai Duj in Hindi) when sisters cook a meal for their brothers. My son is also going to make something (read: microwave something) for his sister.

So those are the five days of Diwali. Though many will not consider it to be truly over until this Saturday, the lucky day of Labh Pancham (Labha panchami.) And if I still haven't managed to write seven blog posts by then, there is always Deva Diwali...

Best wishes to everyone in Debianland for a happy and prosperous Gujarati New Year (Vikram Samvat 2066, called Plava)

This year the local mandirs continued their recent trend of coordinating their Diwali/new year plans and there was a big mela planned. Unfortunately the weather didn't really cooperate but the kids got to manhandle some explosives and after all isn't that the reason for the season?

Presentwise, I got a DIY 4-shelf bookcase from Sears, the Catalyst Book plus a much-needed woolen hat.

I've decided that I am going to quit my job. It's a soul-sucking dead end but in these tough economic times it pays bills so I've agonized about this for a long time. This was supposed to be the year we moved out of Jersey City but it has yet to happen. And it never will unless I take some sort of decisive action. So I'm going to do it. Wish me luck!

)

I wish everyone a happy Diwali and nothing but good fortune and prosperity in the new Gujarati year called Sharvari (V.S. 2065)

This year the local mandirs got wise and lobbied the city for permission to hold a firework display however we had horrible weather today so we didn't go. I had already prepared my own stash of fireworks anyway so we enjoyed them at home.

On the presents front, I got a much needed woollen hat, another tulasi plant (lets see how long before I kill this one.) and a gift certificate for audiobooks which I used to get "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut, "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs, and "A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess. And of course all the sweets I could eat.

Once again I crushed all beneath my booted toe at Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Best wishes to everyone in the Free Software community for the new year Vikari (VS 2064)

Diwali/new year this time was kind of anticlimatic compared to last year when we were actually in India. It is cold and gloomy in NJ, and fireworks are hard to come by. (Though I did manage to scrounge up some so not a total loss in that department.) And we arrived late at the mandir for Annakut Darshan today so they were out of thor which sucks. The presents front has been the usual maddeningly practical things. The kids of course got better stuff. Shailu, for instance, got Hungry Hungry Hippos and we've been having fun playing that.

So I shouldn't complain. Ma Lakshmi has blessed me tremendously over the past year and I just know this year will be even better.

Today was Janmashtami. There were record crowds at the mandir at
midnight this year. But that's not the big news today.

As she is approaching the ripe old age of three, my wife and I decided it was time to put our daughter Shailaja in preschool. We found a nice one a little further away than we would have liked but still a manageable distance, filled out the forms and paid the fees and then spent a nerve-wracking Labor Day weekend worrying about how much Shailaja was going to miss us or more accurately how much we were going to miss her. Luckily for Jyoti, she had an 8:30 meeting so she spared herself a wrenching scene. Instead it fell upon me to take her.

So by 8am I had Shailaja ready to go. She did Saraswati puja and wrote 'a' for Vidyarambha. Then disaster struck when it suddenly dawned on her that although pappa was taking her to school, he would not be staying. By the time we got there, she was firmly attached to my leg and would not budge. However the schools large selection of toys soon tempted her away. I had to go upstairs to ask the director some questions and by the time I came down, she was engrossed in making new friends. In fact she didn't even notice when I left!

When Jyoti and I came to pick her up in the evening, Shailajas' teacher reported that she had been a good girl all day and had not asked for us once.

Wednesday night was Mahashivaratri. There was a record crowd at our mandir which meant long delays in getting darshan. I spent the night praying (and drank bhang) so I was totally out of commission on Thursday. Today I'm mostly recovered though.

Speaking of Indian matters, it looks like Debian-IN is finally getting off the ground. I now have a couple of volunteers and the first packages should be along soon.