How will you celebrate Diwali?

[echarcha]

How will you celebrate Diwali? Will there be the usual: firecrackers, new clothes, sweets, etc.?

Will you be donating to some charities? If you are not in India then how is Diwali celebrated (among Indians) where you live?

Can you share your Diwali experiences and thoughts?

[Indian]

....i am missing Diwali in india:(

Diwali is one of my favourite festival.

cause i am working in Malaysia, of course there is a hell lot of indian population in Malaysia celebrating diwali, but Diwali in India is colorfull and has its own flavour.

back in India ..We used to celebrate with the usual things like sweets, crackers, etc. Thats hell lot of fun . Now in Malaysia i cannot fire crackers near my house . i need to drive two hours long where all indians meet at an open air stadium and celebrate diwali.

I always remember an incident , whenever diwali is celebrated. One of my neighbour has burnt his left hand due to his unsafe methods of using crackers. His hand was amputated to half. I hate to see these kind of sad incidents during a happy ocassion/celebration.
After every diwali , u open a news paper in india , u read a news about fire accidents in every news paper.

Can't we have a safe way to celebrate Diwali ?
Should governement do something concrete to make this ocassion safe other than advertisements in TV and other media?

Any way ..

Brothers and Sisters of echarcha..i wish A HAPPY DIWALI TO YOU ALL

Cheers

[phaedrus]

umm diwali...one more of those things handed down the generations....

festivals play an useful part in any society to bring that feeling of bon homie et al...but thats about it...u look beyond that...its a question of faith and belief....

diwali...waste of money....noise pollution and what not...and i'm sure most of the souls who burst those crackers et al dont give jack shit about ravana dying so long ago .....he he aint this nation cute...in the first place they dont give jack shit about all those freedom fighters who were instrumental in them living in a democracy :)

[GeTReaL]

It's been a long time since i've celebrated Diwali in India. I hope to go to India next year during Diwali and celebrated.

In the US celebrating Diwali is different. You can't do any fire work on your own. You have to take city's permission. I'm planning to get together with friends on saturday have good food, dancing, play some games and discuss echarch and gandmasti.

[thisnthat]

I guess Diwali like the other festivals in India, though to some would have some religious significance, to the majority, its a great way of celebrating another day in our lifes and our participation in the indian society. Personally speaking, I've reached a stage in life, where each day I need to make a 'diwali' out of it, or else will end up being a 'diwala'!

[deshpremi]

First off all, I hope all of U had a great Diwali. Whether we attach religious importance to Diwali, or a sheer spirit of celebration, we all love it. The fact is that most of us in this forum are living outside India, and are very sentimental about our country. We get nostalgic and remember what we used to do back home on all such occasions. Also if we were not proud of our heritage/ culture, we wouldn't have been on this forum.

Cheers, and have a great time..