September 5, 2008 – 1:01 pm
Today is Teachers’ Day in India, and we were all welcomed with flower garlands (mala in Hindi) and little boxes of sweets as we entered the school grounds. Alea took a fun picture of Dave and Susan before the school day started!
The date for the holiday is actually derived from the birthday of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second [...]
September 4, 2008 – 6:03 pm
The idols are all over Mumbai again, as Lord Ganesha makes his yearly visit to homes everywhere. Our school librarian put together a great little summary of the Ganesh story and the symbolism of the holiday. It is the most popular holiday around town, so it is handy to know what all the excitement is [...]
September 1, 2008 – 7:09 pm
This week marks the beginning of the big party season in Mumbai. Ramadan begins tomorrow, so all the Muslims are gearing up for a month of daytime fasting and nighttime feasting. There is a large Islamic enclave clustered around a huge mosque somewhat near our house (on our route to school), so it will be [...]
Today is the big Parade of Nations (PON), not to be confused with yesterday’s Festival of Nations (FON). As a huge international school, we make quite a big deal over celebrating the national diversity roaming our halls. Looking at the setup statistics for the events today, there are students from 51 different countries walking the halls [...]
Obviously a bit different than in years past!
While some things are pretty consistent from year to year (like my NCAA brackets falling apart before the end of the second round), our holiday patterns are wonderfully varied. This year we got to experience a true mashup of cultures, as a big Hindu celebration coincided with the [...]
What a rookie mistake. You’d think that after 38 years of life and more than 6 months in Mumbai I would have learned my lesson.
I made the number one error that expats living in India simply cannot afford to make: I left the house without a camera. Inexcusable, especially given that I knew it was [...]
With all the racket and traffic, the city fathers have decided that a day of quiet is just what the doctor ordered. April 7th is being orchestrated as No Horn Day in Mumbai. I’ll believe it when I see (hear) it. There is no way typical Indian drivers are going to lay off the horn [...]
January 17, 2008 – 9:02 am
Every Indian holiday requires fireworks, and every god has a holiday, some of which stretch over several days. Since – not counting Jesus and Allah – there are about 300 gods in the Hindu pantheon, pretty much every day around here lends itself to an excuse to set off loud noisemakers or hire a drum [...]
November 1, 2007 – 7:51 am
So here it is, one day after our Diwali shindig, and we had the big Halloween get together. (You can bet the kids are just going nuts at school with all the parties, candy, days off, and break coming up.) We had a trick or treating night at our apartment building, and all staff kids [...]
