Diwali Mubarak!!: A Visit to Manila's Little India during Diwali!!

- November 5, 2010, Friday, Diwali

- Like most of my recent adventures, this was also a random, last-minute-planned trip that I brought together last night. Just before going to sleep, my friend Shiveena greeted everyone a "Happy Diwali" through her facebook, which made me panic; maybe the stores would be closed for the day, and the temple might not allow non-Hindus to enter due to the ceremonies and such. It was a good thing that I thought of calling all the places we wanted to go to before leaving the house. Gladly, all the stores, and even the temple, were open today. Diwali by the way is an Indian holiday of lights; almost all (if not all) Indic religions have their own reason for celebrating diwali, but the word "light" will never be missing.

- In this late-morning-'til-early-afternoon adventure, I was accompanied by my neighbor and Abi. Abi is Charmaine's former schoolmate, and my friend as well via our MTG days during elementary to high school. Abi told me about that she wanted to have an adventure with me, especially to Little India, ages ago. Today, it was all our lucky day: out first adventure to Little India - DURING DIWALI.

- My neighbor and I waited for Abi at Times Plaza, the minimall beside the UN LRT station. Since Abi thought that the trip wouldn't push through, she overslept. Charmaine called her up and clarified that the trip would indeed push through, and that we were waiting for her at the minimall. Abi promptly prepared herself, and arrived at the minimall around half an hour later.

- As always, we first visited the Sikh temple (only from the outside,) and shopped for groceries in Assad Minimart. Just as my friend Shiveena warned me the night before after telling her about my plan to go to Little India, the people there were panic-buying food items and other religious items. I was lucky to have bought the usual ladoos, black jamuns, and samosas.

- After arriving at the next-door Talwar's Indian Grocery, Abi was fascinated by all the DVD's, and claimed all the women there as Aishwarya Rai. Coincidentally, the Indian owner of the store was watching a movie with Aishwarya in it. Haha. I pointed out to Abi that the women in the television was the Aishwarya she was looking for. I also bought two money envelopes as souvenirs for my two companions. Of course, they did't know I bought them yet.

- I visited Simron's next, where my companions bought Indian Maggi. The lady in the shop always forgot that I spoke Hindi, and that she was, again, surprised that I did. She thought I was Nepalese, maybe because of my appearance, or my actual Nepalese clothing - I wore my shirt especially for diwali. Speaking of me speaking in Hindi, I unintentionally mix Korean with Hindi, usually replying "ne" or "de" instead of "(ji) han" to people. The former is Korean and the latter Hindi, both of which meant "yes." This is because of my recent immersion in everything-Korean. Hahahaha. At least I was still able to understand what they were telling me, and I was able to respond properly after conditioning myself to speak in Hindi, not Korean.

- Next on the agenda was our epic lunch in Assad Cafe. Since it was directly 12 noon, the place was jam-packed with people, Indians, and non-Indians alike. The non-Indians usually come from nearby companies like Nissan and Unilever.

- The three of us were able to find seats near the door almost instantly, but it took forever for the waiter to come and clean our table, and take our orders. I couldn't blame them though, it was a peak time of the day, and the other customers were far more demanding. Haha. While waiting for our table to be cleaned, I revealed my small surprise for them: the very colorful money envelopes.

- The three of us has mutton quorma (or spelled "korma" in other restaurants,) mutton miryani, and Kashmiri fish curry. The quorma was supposed to be chicken, but the restaurant ran out of beef, chicken, and flat breads. :|:|:|:| It's a shame that Abi wasn't able to experience the "Indian way" to eat: HAND(S) AND BREAD. :D:D:D:D Still, I think Abi had a good meal, along with her mango lassi.

- As the rain started to pour outside, we were trying to figure out if we would go to the temple via trike, or via foot. Gah. They day I decided not to wear my boots, it rains - HARD. :|:|:|:| We decided to ride a trike since one was already conveniently parked outside the restaurant. Still, my Sanuk weren't safe. Again, the day I decided not to wear my shiny yellow rainboots. :|:|:|:|

- We arrived at the temple moments later, and was greeted by the guard and the suddenly-there flower vendors (they sold sampaguita garlands that people would use to offer the gods) with "Happy Diwali."

- The three of us proceeded to the second floor to visit the gods, meeting several friendly Indians, whom I greeted with a humble "namaste," followed by "Diwali mubarak" or "Happy Diwali." Upon arriving at the second floor, I met Mr. Dumri again, one of the high priests of the temple, and was again playing his harmonium. I greeted him, and had some Hindi small talk with me. He asked me where I got my shirt. Haha. Now that I'm writing this blog, I realized that he might have recognized my shirt as Nepalese because Mr. Dumri IS a Nepalese. Hahahaha.

- I proceeded to introducing Abi to all the gods, telling their stories and why they appeared to be such. We all took pictures with the gods since they were all "dressed up" specially for Diwali.

- Before leaving the temple, Ashok Maharaj, the other high priest, entered the prayer hall. I also greeted him, had some Hind small talk, before leaving the temple.

- We all rode the rike to the LRT station, and rode the train home. Well, to be exact, Charmaine was the only one who needed to go home. Abi accompanied me to UST since I needed to meet another set of friends (to be blogged after this,) and Abi needed to do something in UST.

- Even if I didn't wear my boots today, I think this was one of the most special Little India trips I've had mainly because of Diwali. Of course I'm not saying that all my other trips were insignificant; all of my trips, even those not in Little India, are very dear to me. It's just that I was able to celebrate my first-ever Indian holiday today, wearing an Indian shirt, in Little India, as a way to have a break from watching the Vishnupuran series (an Indian series about Vishnu and his avataras) I'm watching this sem break.