Puthari

Recently, on the 14th, we celebrated our harvest festival. People set off firecrackers for the last three days and drink for most of the day. Mostly the estate owners and managers prepare a huge feast for all of the workers and their families and hand out tons of fire crackers and sparklers to the children. My family and I spent the festival in the old house that my father grew up in with the relatives that live there now. The kids were setting off firecrackers all around us and we sat on the veranda drinking and talking well into the night. We gave thanks to our ancestors by preparing food and put a bit near the grave of my great grandfather and great grandmother.--December is also wedding season so we have three to attend in the next couple of days with the engagement ceremony sandwiched in there somewhere. In my mind the ceremony will be quite large, about 325 are expected but in a country that holds a big chunk of the world's population, that number is a drop in the bucket. I say this because when I balk at the size of the engagement party, people look at me like with blank stares and proceed to tell me that actually, that's quite reasonable.--We also visited my soon-to-be inlaws yesterday for morning tea. They were very sweet and bought me a cake to cut to celebrate my recent b-day and gave me a very lovely gift- a sari in orange, green, and gold tones. I particularly like different the border is.--Also, housing in Mumbai is finally settled. Now I am in the process of tracking down my employer for details about work. I hope all are well.