Friday, November 16, 2012

Happy Diwali!

Tuesday, Nov. 13th was Deepawali (or Diwali for short), the Indian "festival of lights." Diwali and Holi, celebrated in the Spring, make up the two most important holidays in India. I perused the internet on the day after Diwali and a few reports of Diwali caught my eye. They talked about the colorful sand art, the beautiful candles, and the sweets. My experience couldn't have been more different. From my point of view, Diwali isn't about colorful sand, candles, or sweets (sweets does hold second place to...), it's about one thing and one thing only - blowing fireworks and firecrackers up, and blowing up heaps upon heaps of them!


The bungee jump team of Mark, Martina, Sue, and Matt, Flow, Arvind, Arvind's son, Shoki (a cook for Red Chilli), and me all headed up to Arvind's house to feast and blow things up. Between Arvind, Flow, and Mark, we had a serious arsenal of firepower. Shortly after dark, the night erupted. Diwali is very different than Fourth of July or New Years - there is a total Indian randomness to the way the fireworks and crackers are set off, there is no "at 12 o'clock, all the fireworks go off in unison!". Further, instead of a visual show put on by American holidays that include fireworks, Diwali is much more auditory...it is loud! As a matter of fact, it sounds like you are in the middle of a war zone. We all ate way too much food, laughed tons, and added to the mayhem of the night.

If I could describe Diwali in one word, it would be "loose." Kids who couldn't have been older than 7 lit off small bombs. If the fuses lit but went out on the first try, no 10 second rule to see if it would go off - they'd lunge right back in and fire it off! Walking down the main street, big firecrackers seemed to rain in from all directions, lobbed at passing bikes or people (of course, all in good fun :) ). And Indian fireworks and crackers are of such inconsistent quality, you never know which direction the bottle rocket you're about to light is going to go and how fast the fuse will take to ignite the gunpowder inside. With little else to do, we just laughed at the absolute chaos of the night as India laughed right back at all us westerners had learned about firework safety. Enjoy the video of the experience...



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Tonight, I embark for Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh - the wild west of India (although its in the east). Making it to Arunachal is the biggest goal and challenge of my trip to India and I feel that all I've learned and experienced here will get put to the test in the Northeast. Still, Arunachal isn't India - it's the Northeast. Indians from the mainland feel as if they're in another country when they visit the Northeast. If mainland India is a frustrating place to travel, Arunachal takes patience to a whole new level. In my dealing with people in Arunachal, responses promised in 15 minutes take hours, days turn into weeks, and next week probably means never. Further, I'm going out to guide for a local outfit. While my good rafting friend from California Roland co-owns the company, he hasn't been to India in two years and has no idea what the state of the operation is (check it out www.riverindia.com). Nino Dai, Roland's co-owner and local Adi tribesman from Arunachal, is one hell of a guy to get a hold of. Persevering through weeks of non-communication over the last few months, the plan as of now is for me to guide the paddle boat on a seven-day expedition down the Subansiri River (which will be flooded by a dam in the next year or two) and after, hopefully lead a guide school and guide an expedition on the Siang River (aka the Yarlung Tsang-po River in China where it starts and the Bramaputra River once it flows out of Arunachal into Assam, India). If I have time, I would also like to make the 3-day overland journey to Tippi and the Indian Institute of Orchid Study (housing some of the rarest species in the world) and Tawang, home to the largest monastery in the world outside of Lhasa, Tibet.

Internet should be good enough to write from Arunachal and I hope to send updates soon after arrival. I'm off by overnight train to Delhi where I'll catch the morning flight to Dibrugarh, Assam, staying in a hotel for the night. The next morning, I'll wake up and take a jeep to the two-hour ferry across the Brahmaputra, then another jeep into Arunachal and Pasighat. I have my permit (you need a Restricted Area Permit to enter Arunachal) and some good contacts so I hope all goes smoothly at the border. Wish me luck! Until next time...


1 comment:

  1. Coop! I got your postcard, what a pleasant surprise! My thoughts are with you and I am encouraged by the laughter and excitement you have encountered. May the rest of your journey in India be full of life and bring you joy! Until such time...

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