Houstonji, we have arrived

22 hours after leaving Toronto, I found myself standing in the Bangalore airport waiting for my luggage. First of all, kudos to Lufthansa for being so incredibly punctual with all of its flight times. And kudos to me for flying halfway across the world on my own for the first time! It was late and very hot and humid when I disembarked. The luggage took over 1 hour to come out, but I am so very thankful that it is here at all. Erica and Lalu greeted me at the airport and dropped me off to Mossglam (my grandparent's house) at around 1 am. Everything was exactly the same and completely different than I had remembered it. Mosslgam had the same smell as when I left it 4 years ago! I think thats more a bad thing than a good thing. Anyways, have spent the last 2 days galavanting around Bangalore. The traffic here is incredible, I don't ever remember it being so bad. And its almost impossible to get an autorikshaw, eventhough I've been told there are about 65,000 of them registered in Bangalore. I think I still have jet lag as I wake up at 5:30 am everyday (mum you would be so proud), but I'm sure it won't last long.
Grandma, Erica and I went to breakfast this morning at Konark. The idlis and vadas were soo good, and although I can honestly say the stuff you can get in Canada comes in a close second, you just can't beat the 20 Rs pricetag on 2 idlis and 1 vada. And the coffee, it's soo good! I think its the milk here. It's delivered fresh everyday to people's houses.

It's Diwali this weekend. Every school and office will be shut down for the next 5 days as we celebrate diwali, also known as the "festival of lights". People are supposed to buy new clothes and jewellry, they buy boxes and boxes of sweets and luxurious fruit baskets and go and visit each other and exchange these presents. Diwali symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. The date marks the return of Lord Ram (the good) after killing Ravan (the evil demon) during his exile for 14 years. It is a very special time of year here. Since such a huge population of India is Hindu, the festive feeling is reminiscent of a North American Christmas. And just like Christmas, I think the greatest joy is having so many days of vacation! Grandma is leaving tomorrow to go to the estate with Gerard, Uncle Ben, Aunt Rita and Ruth to celebrate Grandpa's birthday (October 22nd). So I'm celebrating at Erica'a place with Aaron and Lauren. We've splurged on junk food, sweets, movies and beer (for E & me only of course), and we're going to stay up late, burst firecrackers and sleep in for the next 5 days!

Oh, and happy to report, no devastating malarial-like illness symptoms so far!