German Diwali^^

Day before yesterday,I was sitting and having breakfast with my host mother. Suddendly then my phone rang. I had a message. A message from my Indian friend wishing me 'Happy Diwali'. I was surprised. I knew I was going to miss Diwali, but I wasn't prepared that it would be this soon! I told my host mom about Diwali. And she gave me this awesome idea of celebrating it. So we did yesterday evening^^
Diwali is a festival of light. They light diyas-cotton string wicks inserted in small clay pots filled with oil -to signitfy victory of good over evil in an individual.

We invited all the exchange students living in my area and three other families. While inviting them I asked them if they could dress indian^^. I wanted it to be a total Indian evening,including the sitting arrangement. As I had told them,I was ofcourse dressed totally indian. Including bangles,punjabi dress,and 'tikli'.I drew rangoli around the house. Rangoli is a colourful sand,and one can make all types of designs with it. My host sister helped me with it. We decorated the house with flowers. We did not have diyas so we put candles around the house instead. Prepared a special type of lamp which they always put up during diwali called 'Akashkandil'. We had heena designs on the hands. I was amused as one of the lady came to me with a Sari and asked me to show her how one wears it. I was amused at the enthusiasm . All the ladies got tiklis(a dot which Indian ladies wear,on their forehead) And yes I can't forget we had indian music,which means I danced :). And so did everyone else. And Oh! I had a surprise of fire crackers in the end. I was singing 'din din diwali' while bursting them ;)
For snacks we had 'bhakarwadi','chivda','khakra' served with indian tea called 'chai'. For dinner we had 'roti'(indian bread), chicken, panner(cottage cheese). Roti is supposed to be round! I tired my best, somewhere got near it but all weren't exactly round. And for desert we had 'laddoo'(round indian sweet,which they told me tastes like caramel).

The evening was really fun! It was filled with questions about indian culture,traditions and ofcourse diwali. The fun part was seeing Germans eat with hand. I haven't even seen any German eat french fries with hands, seeing them eat a whole meal with hands was adorable^^.
I'm on a cultural exchange. I'm here to learn more about German culture. But at the same time,I carry my culture with me. And India indeed has a great culture. A culture which is rich and diverse in its very own way. We have a lot of indian festivals. And Diwali is one of the biggest festivals in India. I 'm really lucky because I got to celebrate Diwali in Germany. They wanted to know more about the culture. They wanted to see my life style at home. And yes they wanted me to feel like home..
I can't express my emotions how happy I was after celebrating it on this large scale. Thank you everyone who was a part of it. Thank you my host family specially to my host mom for helping me with everything :D

Its amazing how small things bring joy to lifes ^^