Diwali in Pune

So this last weekend was Diwali. I can honestly say that I don't remember ever really hearing about the holiday before. I probably did, but I really don't remember it. Diwali is referred to as the Festival of lights and is a national holiday here in India. It is celebrated in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, but it is celebrated for different reasons. Where we live, the population is mostly Hindu. In Hinduism the holiday is celebrated in recognition as the inner light that goes beyond the physical being. It also signifies the Return of Rama to Ayodhya. Rama was a King returning to the city of Ayodhya, which is in northern India, after a fourteen year exile after which he rules for thousands of years. It also signifies the killing of Narakasura who was an evil demon who created havoc by the Lord Krishna. The main theme is the triumph of good over evil. the holiday is celebrated over five days.
However, in my ignorant American view of the holiday, it seems to me to be like Christmas and fourth of July all rolled into one. People give gifts, eat a lot of sweets, and are business's have massive sales around the Diwali Holiday. Along with that, for the entire five days and a few extra, fireworks are constantly set off from before sunset until around 1-2 in the morning. To be honest, it gets a little annoying after a while. On the main night of Diwali, we went to our friends house to watch some of the ceremonies and light fireworks. It was generally fun. We lit mostly sparklers and a few flower pots which mainly just shoot sparks up into the air. The kids really didn't like anything else. To them it was too loud. Others though did not have such reservations. the entire city sounded like a war zone until well after midnight. There are very few illegal fireworks here and almost every shop sets up a stand outside to sell them. Explosions constantly rang out and smaller firecrackers that sounded like little machine guns went off in between. The close ones hurt your ears. Especially when I was trying to cover Nathan's ears for him. and the far off ones sounded like something out of a war movie. When we returned to our society (apartment), we were greeted by the entire parking lot covered with debris from the fireworks. These piles were at least a foot thick. There was only a solitary path so that cars could still drive in. but even that was covered in cardboard casings and other trash. Honestly I am not upset that the firework nights seem to be over.
The other really, really, really annoying thing about Diwali is that it seems like everybody thinks they deserve money from you for the holiday. What happens is that your doorbell will ring and when you answer, someone that works in you society is there holding out their hands and saying "happy Diwali". Basically implying that you need to give them a gift for the holiday. Mostly all they expect is 10-50 rupees (20 cents-1 dollar) but it gets really annoying after the 5th to 8th time. I feel like I had every employee of the society come to my door and ask for Diwali money. I did give to the general fund for all of the cleaning staff and guards but that is about it. Towards the end I just acted like I had no idea what they were saying and I just closed the door. I even had a guard stop our car as we were leaving one afternoon and ask for it. It seems like they all get really greedy when this holiday comes around. I remember being slightly annoyed when the Salvation Army people stand outside seemingly every store in the U.S. I feel like giving to one isn't enough. But at least they don't hound you.
The last interesting thing I saw last week was a group of "ladymen" or Hijras. Its a little confusing but they are basically transvestites or eunuchs. This group went around to all the shops and hit up the shopkeepers for money. I "think" it was protection money. Not really mobish but to keep these Hijras from causing trouble for the shopkeeper. Mainly they will taunt the person publicly and make sexual advances in public. I had the boys with me so I think they left me alone because of that. But they gave me a long look so I think they thought about it. Fun. Most of these men were not convincing at all as women. I was more than fifty feet away when I came around the corner and saw them. It took me about 1.347 seconds to figure it out. I saw a show about them and I think culturally there is more to it but at the moment I just wanted to avoid them. ok, that is it for now.