This past Saturday was Diwali, which is the “Festival of Lights.” Diwali is sort of the equivalent of New Year’s Eve — it signifies the “new year” by the lunar calendar.
My in-laws are Indian/Hindu so I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying Diwali for a few years now. It usually involves getting the family together and eating Indian food. Last year, I had the opportunity to experience Diwali in India (here), which we celebrated by shooting off (with little regard for our own safety) an untold number of firecrackers at a family friend’s house.
As things would have it, one of those aforementioned family friends happened to be here in the States from India this past weekend. So yesterday, we took Tanmay (far right in the above photo) to one of the “top ten largest traditional Hindu Vedic stone temples outside India,” which happens to be located just outside of Atlanta.
The Swaminarayan Temple truly is massive, intricately designed, and somewhat strangely set behind a Walgreen’s*. As you can see, there were a huge number of people at the Temple, many of which were waiting in lines to go up and into the Mandir. We elected to just stay outside and enjoy the beautiful, if not a bit brisk, day and check out the Temple grounds.
Anyway, seeing as I was wearing my KSO Treks (with Injinji socks), I figured I’d share the experience with birthdayshoes and wish everyone “Sal Mubarak!” That’s “Happy New Year” in Hindi.
* Walgreen’s really knows how to get their hands on primo-corner real estate!
