To all - I wish you a DIWALI MUBAARAK!! For those of you who do not quite know what Diwali is all about, well I am probably the last person to give an "education" lesson as I associate Diwali with eating sweets, going to temple, but below is my grasp of the Diwali celebration. Diwali, aka the other "Festival of Lights", is a major holiday in the Hindu religion. It is a time of candles, fireworks, gifts, and sweets. The holiday celebrates the goddesses Kali and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and is generally a 5 day celebration. In case you are wondering...here are the 5 days:
Dhanteras (15 Oct): On this day you exchange (or just buy) silver or gold jewellery as a way to welcome wealth and good fortune for the year to come. The ladies of the household also create a powder design "rangoli" at the entrance of the door as a welcome to Lakshmi. - Kali Choudas (16 Oct): This day celebrates Kali - the goddess of Power. The story for this day is a demon was killed so the day overall celebrates good overcoming evil. Where my family is from, we offer a puja to Hanuman, the monkey god to protect themselves from all the dark forces in the world.
- Chopda Pujan (17 Oct): This is a day of new start for business - so celebrating to both Lakshmi and Gunesha are performed to kick-off the new account year.
- Bestavarsh (18 Oct): This is the most important day as it marks the "New Year" for Gujarati's (where my family is from). This is the day we celebrate a new beginning with new clothing, jewellery , sweets, dry fruit, and the exchange of gifts. Bestavarsh is an auspicious day for shopping, new ventures, openings of homes/businesses - - well you get the point.
- Bhaibeej (19 Oct): The last day celebrates the "bond" between brother and sister. On this day, the sister performs an aarti and prays for her brother's long life. In exchange for that, he gives her a gift.
I was looking forward to celebrating Diwali this year...had the entire celebration planned out, but like many other things my plans were interrupted by other obligations (i.e. the joys of work). On Saturday, rather than throwing a Diwali party, I went to Tooting (the mini India neighborhood nearby) for mithai and a thali of diwali food. I think I may have gone over board with the sweets, but I could not resist buying one of each. Must admit, they were not as satisfying as I would have liked, but it quenched the desire. Instead of throwing a Diwali dinner with a menu that would have battled Mom's, I decided to go for the low-key option and go out for dinner with the London family. My grand idea was to go for Brasilian BBQ. I know I know I know...that is a 100% sacreligious I realise! Not quite the Diwali celebration, but it was good to have the family together for a all you could eat meat buffet. One of our friends is from Brasil (yes the American have expanded outside of the country...we even have allowed the Thai and English to join - we unfortunately lost the Aussie), so she made sure that we got the finest meats first! I do not recall the last time I ate so much meat (will be avoiding meat for a couple of weeks now). That said, I made sure that I left room for creme caramel - - so delicious. It is weird, I am not a sweet tooth person in any which way, but once Diwali comes around...I cannot seem to get enough.
So onwards to the topic of the weekend...X-Factor!! This weekend was all about the Divas! The results show featured performances by Cheryl Cole and Whitney Houston. Both were amasing, but I liked the performance of Cheryl more. The song is nothing special, but the performance was amasing. I read a stat that said that Cheryl got 2x the viewers than Whitney.... can't compete with her. She truly is an British institute. Anyway, here are the highlights...
THE GIRLS (mentored by Dani Minogue)
Not the best performance and she is a bit pitchy in the first half, but she had fun with it. She took a chance with an upbeat song, and it worked overall for her.
Stacey Solomon: "At Last" Beyonce version
Stacey definitely wins the personality of the show. She is truly adorable to watch and hear. Not only does she have an amasing voice, but she is a darling kid (did I just say kid?!?!). I don't think there's a video that covers some of the remarks she makes to the judges...
THE BOYS (mentored by Cheryl Cole)
It is hard to believe that he is so young. I don't think there is a song choice that Joe would not be able to pull off. Makes no sense, but I think he would have been able to pull off the "Bleeding Love" song. More to see from him
THE OVER 25s (mentored by Simon Cowell)
Still not convinced with him, but I thought he did a good job. It was a daring and smug move on Simon's part with the song selection, but Danyl without question has a powerful voice.
Olly Murs: "Fool in Love" by Tina Turner
I like Olly on his first audition. He lost it for a bit in my eyes, but he is back. He is a bit "broadway", but he is good. He has the looks, voice and moves...cannot go wrong. Too bad he is an Essex boys - haha!
Well that is the X-Factor recap!! Hope I can get some of you into the show remotely..
Miss you all dearly and love you more.
xoxo
T
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