Diwali began with sleeping in (finally) and having a nice leisurely breakfast that Gina kindly made for me. It consisted of grilled cheese and eggs with onions and tomatoes- so perfect, so American! We then got picked up my Rekha's driver, Vishnu, who took us to Commercial Street, which apparently is well known for it's shopping. I think I mentioned earlier that everyone here has a driver or a company of drivers that they trust and use on a regular basis. Apparently Vishnu and his company of drivers have been used by Rekha's family for over 15 years so she was confident in his ability to watch over me for a few hours.
Commercial Street reminded me a lot of Ben Yehuda Street in the way that it is set up and the shops. There are some nice indoor shops where the price is fixed as well as the little kiosks that sell bangles, scarfs, and such where the prices can be bargained. Shopping with Gina, and spending the afternoon getting to know her better, was wonderful! The more time I spend with the people here, the more fascinating I find their lives!
After our shopping time adn grabbing a bite to eat at a place called Woody's, I called Vishnu, to come get me to take me to Rekha's for Diwali. On the way to Rekha's, Gina suggested that he drive me by a parliment building, which was very impressive, and the Lalbaugh Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful! Due to political issues, visitors are no longer allowed in the parliment building but it was interesting looking from the outside. The gardens were beautiful and there were a lot of people around so I was happy that Vishnu was with me. He kindly drove me through and made sure I was okay, and also took pictures of me at the gardens. As we drove from the gardens to Rekha's, there were certain areas where I prayed that he would not stop to let me out and say that this was Rekha's house. My assumption was that Rekha is well off and lives in a very nice home, but I suppose that anything could have been possible, which was why I was nervous. Of course I was not disappointed and they live in a beautiful apartment in a safe part of town.
At Rekha's, I was greeted by her ENTIRE family, her parents, her dad's brother and his wife, her brother, her other brother with his wife and son, and then her two children. Spending the afternoon with them was very nice and slightly made me feel like I was at Aunt Penney and Uncle David's for Thanksgiving. There was an endless amount of food and family that kept piling in- it was wonderful! I slightly felt on the outside especially when they switched to speaking Hindi, but I was happy to sit back and watch regardless. When everyone arrived and we finished eating the first course, we went up to the roof to light crackers. For Diwali, they light hundreds of crackers and apparently it's even bigger in the north! From the roof, we could see a beautiful skyline of Bangalore and all the fireworks that were being lit. The night was great, I was so happy to be with a family, but I went to bed early to get ready for a long day of traveling in Mysore!
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