Photo of the sunset reflected off the window of our apartment on the Deepavali week. The dust is a major irritation here.
I can’t recall but this is probably the third time I am celebrating Deepavali far from home and family
The first year I did that was quite painful especially when my son had just born and it supposes to be the first year to celebrate it as one family. But work assignment and professional commitment took priority and we had to postpone our celebrations after I came back from abroad. Deepavali was a gloomy day on both ends.
The second time was not that painful as my family had now got accustomed to my travels and long stay abroad. However, I miss the moments the night before, cleaning and decorating the house and the morning where one would wake up early, take oil bath and after prayers, sit down for a hot thosai and spicy chicken curry.
My wife has been telling that my son was more excited this year for Deepavali as he wanted to play fireworks. Shopping has been kept to a minimum and probably there will be some visits from friends and other family members. I hope that my son will enjoy his fireworks and without hurting himself. I recall me and my cousins doing crazier things with fireworks when we were young.
Celebrating abroad is painful but the pain is softened a bit by friends who made the trouble to look for Indian Restaurant here in Tehran. We probably walked 3 kilometres before founding one near Safir Hotel. The restaurant tucked away near a hotel was well furnished with decorations of India. We were greeted by a well dressed Punjabi man who we guess was also the manager of the restaurant.
The décors looked expensive and so did the prices on the menu list. We looked for the cheapest item on the menu – briyani and the taste or the portion did not disappoint us. Chicken briyani (plus drink and service tax) went for almost 140,000 rials whilst mutton briyani went for 160,000 rials (1 ringgit is about 2,800 rials). We promised ourselves that we need to dig into their chicken/mutton curries on the next trip.
For those who are celebrating Deepavali, Happy Deepavali and for the rest, I wish Happy Holidays…
(To be continued)