Pyrotechnic Fun (Diwali in Bangalore)

Two weeks ago I went to Bangalore to celebrate Diwali with Angela, a friend from Pondicherry University and hang out with Pema, a friend from Thimphu, Bhutan. The whole weekend was awesome, and Diwali was amazing. We lit fireworks on Angie's roof while watching a 360-degree show of fireworks, both in the air and on the streets. Photos and videos can express this spectacle better than my words:

special fireworks booth set up for Diwali in Angela's neighborhood

fireworks on the street and in the air, viewed from Angela's roof


Angela and I play with sparklers

Angela lighting "flowerpot" fireworks

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360-view of fireworks (note: this video does not do the scene justice! unfortunately I was not videotaping during the best parts)


(I will add more pictures to my Picasa page soon.)

And of course we ate lots and lots of sweets, which is what one does on Diwali.

The day after Diwali I hung out with Pema, who is studying and working in Bangalore. He works at a call center overnight and gets home from work at 5am. Painful. We went to Lal Bagh, a big park with botanical gardens, and hung out in a giant tree (Pema said it was the biggest tree he'd ever seen, if you discount banyan trees):

super awkward sitting-in-a-tree picture. I almost want to submit this awkwardness to awkwardfamilyphotos.com, even though we aren't family. I swear our day wasn't as awkward as this picture may suggest.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to Kullu and Manali in the Himalayas for the long weekend (we have Monday off for the birthday of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism). I am psyched for hiking, mountain vistas, cold temperatures (-5 degrees C at night) and, most importantly, CLEAN AIR!!

...I'm only getting more and more behind on my blog.

Oh, and I must end this post with the greatest picture of all:

the best masala dosa in all of India, in Hotel Janatha in Malleshwaram