Thanksgiving - adopting a tradition

I had never grasped what Thanksgiving meant for the Americans before I arrived in the US.

On Thurs evening of 2007 when I wandered around the streets of Manhattan, for the first time I noticed a difference. Restaurants closed, stores shut down and the only people on the streets were few tourists! Living in close proximity of Manhattan, most of my weekends are spent haunting these very same streets. I have  always found a large mass of people walking around, sometimes actually suffocating me

So it struck - it is indeed a big deal! One day in the entire year when people travel long distances to be home with family. If you go to an airport on Wed night you are sure to see hoards of people all around rushing from one end to the other rushing to catch a flight.

So here I was with my hubby at 10 pm, no plan in our heads continuing to wander around aimlessly when we saw a group of people... No no!!! A queue of people with tents, sleeping bags and every possible equipment that would help them get thro' the night. Atleast 60 odd souls were comfortably camped on a sidewalk outside Bestbuy, one of the famous electronic stores.

Yes that's the other thing Thanksgiving is about. Have an early Thanksgiving dinner with family and get in the line for the Friday early morning door busters  when the stores open at 5 am with an abundance of deals. You don't think, just grab lift and rush to purchase. A split sec lost means the object lost

So what did we do? Of course joined in the line! No preparation, nothing to keep us warm on that chilly November night. Just the company of each other and all the strangers who over the duration of the night became good friends. We shared jokes stories and even early morning coffee

But dawn broke out, the doors opened and none of our 'friends' were to be seen. It was a mad scene with everyone rushing into the store. Yes annually there are variety of incidents all over the country - stampede, shooting, use of pepper spray and more.

What did we pick? Two totally non required cameras, just because we got a good deal! Yes that's what it actually ends up being for most. "Is there a deal? well we gotta get it"

Have we made Black Friday early morning shopping a tradition? No! Not that part of Thanksgiving...

Diwali Festivities

Goa - the land of booze and partying with its vast beaches and swinging coconut trees is what comes to everyone's mind. Ask a Goan and they will tell you of the traditions, cultures which strongly bind the people together. Various festivals are celebrated by people of different religions in harmony. Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Id, Christmas... are all celebrated with the same enthusiasm all across

Being outside Goa and India, the urge to celebrate each festival in the exact way as done at home becomes stronger. Its one of the ways to feel at home away from home

Diwali in Goa is synonymous with Narkasur, Fov (Pohe), lots of festival sweets & snacks, akashdivo (latern) and of course crackers!

In the US, of course there is no Narkasur to see on Diwali eve nor crackers to burst. Diwali festivities begin a fews days earlier with the preparation of various snacks like shankarpali, chivda etc Every year I try to add a new item to my list of snacks and this year it was besan ladoo.

Another attraction of diwali is the Akashdivo or latern which hangs in the the balcony. Everyone gets really creative and a variety of colorful Akashdive are seen hanging in the balcony of every house

five varieties of fov & various snacks

On Diwali morning it is a busy busy time! Its the day of cleansing and getting refreshed. A good oil massage followed by application of uthane (uptan) which makes you feel refreshed and smell heavenly.

An inviting breakfast table welcomes you which is laid with all the snacks prepared in advance and freshly prepared varieties of fov (pohe) - dudhatle, rosatle, dhayatle, suke & batata pohe.
This year since I had visited India few weeks before; there was a lot of stuff I had carried back too. So it was a wonderful heavily laid table.

Usually back in Goa Chana usal & Ambadyachi karam are part of the menu. However we are not big fans of the usal and its been impossible to find Ambade hence we have always skipped the two dishes.

Ovalni tat

Prior to having the breakfast comes the ovalni. All of the family stands in a straight line and the eldest lady in the house does the ovalni (aarti) of each member. In return she receives gifts from each one.

Lighting in the balcony

After breakfast its time to get busy cooking lunch however the number of dishes made for breakfast take me quite a while and we always end up having a late breakfast.

Well of course it has gotten quite better over time. It's the 4th year now that we are celebrating Diwali in the US. I can never forget the first time though. I was all excited to celebrate but didn't have the slightest idea how to make any of the dishes. Calling up home and making lots of notes about each ritual, ceremony and dish did the trick except absolute no idea of quantity of food which resulted in enough fov to last couple of days!

Yet its become a sort of a tradition to skip lunch and go out to have an early dinner. So I get enough time to put a nice rangoli on the doorstep. At the time of dusk, all the lights in the house and well as the lighting on the balcony is switched on giving a colorful and festive look to the house. Diwali night warrants for oil lamps to be placed outside though I have adapted to placing tealight candles in my little mud lamps.



Diwali - a festival of lights, color and good food! What more can one ask for