Updates
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Well, I know I said I'd be blogging faithfully here. But to be honest, with a few exceptions I've been pretty boring. Not bored, mind you, but boring. Fortunately, the "few exceptions" are extremely interesting, at least to me. So, here's a quick recap along with some photos and video.
On Saturday, the hotel celebrated Oktoberfest. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but the party was on the rooftop around the pool and the weather was fantastic. And there's something about being in New Delhi, listening to polka, and seeing Indians working the rooftop in lederhosen. To top it off, partway through the night they switched from recorded polka to a live group with cheesy synthesizer and the biggest catalog of cheesy 80's songs ever: Lady in Red and Wind Beneath My Wings among the best.
Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of spending a good part of the afternoon and evening with my friend Sunil (SD) and his family. Some of the best hosts in the world, SD's wife also happens to be an incredible cook, and I thoroughly enjoyed spending a lazy Sunday in a real Indian home, eating real Indian cuisine (and so much they were trying to get me fat!), and relaxing with good friends. My time at Hewitt resulted in, among other things, a few great friendships that will last forever. I definitely consider SD and now his family a part of that. I took the short video below from SD's rooftop to show just how populated Delhi is for those of you back in the States.
Its the festival season in India, and yesterday much of India celebrated Dussehra. I don't have the details down 100%, but the gist is that Lord Rama, one of the primary gods in Hindu culture, killed the demon king Ravana and took over his kingdom. There's alot more to it, but the evening culminates in people building these HUGE effigies to Ravana, his son, and some other fat demon. We're talking REALLY BIG. Anyway, to symbolize Lord Rama's victory over evil, they do something that every boy can't help but love: they blow up the effigies. And they're all over the place, so for a good 45 minutes to an hour, these effigies light up the night sky as they burn, and since they're full of firecrackers, its pretty darned cool.
The picture above is a set of effigies we saw prior to the burning. The video below is a burning Ravana we watched from SD's terrace. Pretty neato.
Anywho, more details to come but for now I have to head off to the office. L8tr Sk8tr.
Labels: All Posts, Culture, Travel
posted by Dustin @ 9:35 PM,
