Today, the 27th of October, 2008 is the Hindu festival of lights known simply as Diwali (insert shameless link to "The Office" here). Apparently, the big thing to do to celebrate is to get a bunch of firecrackers, fireworks, and other explosives and set them off (much like Independence Day in America). There is one slight difference, however: whereas, in America, we tend to wait until night time on the 4th of July, the people here start the day before the actual holiday and then continue setting off the fireworks pretty much non-stop until who knows when (it still hasn't ended). They go all through the night, too. At least I think so -- I can't vouch for the hours 12, 1, 2, and 3 in the morning since I was out cold at said times, but I know that at 4 a.m. the fireworks were going strong, at 5 they were still going and it has sounded like a war zone all morning. One of my friends here stated very accurately that Diwali would be a great time for the terrorists to make their move. I think I'll try to stay inside today. . .
Unfortunately, since Diwali is a Hindu holiday, the Adventists here at the Division office don't get a day off, *sigh*. Ah well, I guess I'll have something to do while I'm doing my best to avoid any explosions in my proximity.
Speaking of explosions, I heard my second major car accident last night. I say "heard" because I've never seen a real, car-crushing accident, but I have heard two. Last night I was just about to head home from my friend's house and I had stepped outside the door and was saying my goodbyes when we both heard a loud screeching followed by a sickening, explosive crunching noise. We hurried out to the gate because we could tell that it was quite close. Apparently, what happened was (I'm not sure exactly how) a large truck hit a small car. When we got there, the car was still there (and did not look to be in very good shape), but the truck had sped off. The driver of the car was obviously not very happy about this, but there was little that he could do (I don't think he got the truck license number).
Well, it's barely even Monday and this is shaping up to be quite an eventful week.
2 comments:
Wow. Sounds pretty intense. I wonder if that specific holiday has anything to do with the fireworks we saw on our bus ride back....it'd be interesting to find out. It was 2 days after the 27th, but I wonder. Probably not...Thais are mostly Buddhist and Muslim(not Hindu). Anywho, interesting we both saw fireworks recently, and not on the 4th of July! I like that holiday....
The funny thing about the fireworks here is that I didn't really see all that many. I actually mostly just heard them. I understand that they go for noise over brilliant display here because it's cheaper.
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