Durga Puja

It' is "Festival Season" here in our city and the start of all the "festivities" begins with the holiday Durga Puja. The streets, apartment buildings, commercial malls and parks have all been decorated with twinkle lights and communities have erected giant bamboo structures covered in cloth called Pandals to house their gods and goddesses.  These are temporary temples designed for the purpose of the puja (which when  translated means worship). Durga Puja is one of the biggest Hindu holidays celebrated in our city. Children have almost the entire month off from school and many business give from 3 to  up to 6 days leave for all employees during this holiday. From what we have gathered, it is celebration to honor their goddness Durga's "coming home." Apparently, she has gone off (been married or something) and she is returning for these few days to visit her parents and so people are celebrating her return. 

Pandal in the local mall

Typical street pandal

Some pandals have been known to be extremely elaborate or even take on themes. Some popular themes that we have heard of taken place in the past are Harry Potter,  Titanic & Ramon noodles. People like to go around and look at the the lights and pandals, much like how we like to drive around and look at Christmas Lights.

Requests

Ask that the Truth would be Made Known during this time where so many are seeking after things that promise & yet can do nothing

Autumn in India

Its been made known that Fall has officially come, however it doesn't feel that way to us on this side of the world. While many are starting to break out the winter clothes, layering up and consuming pumpkin spiced foods/beverages, we are still spending most of our times in doors, lounging in front of the AC's ;) *hehe*
However, just because the weather here does not want to admit that it is Fall, that doesn't mean that we don't make the atmosphere feel "Autumn-esque" ;) We have set out the Fall Decor and we do our best to consume homemade pumpkin spiced foods. But that means we literally have to go to the market, purchase something that looks more like a green gourd than a pumpkin (but we have been assured that pumpkins here are just not orange) than we bake it & puree it, & use it in as many recipes as possible! :) 

We also enjoy caramel apples, but ask anyone around here for a caramel apple and most people will ask "what is this caramel?" So, we have learned to make homemade caramel from ingredients found on this part of the world as well.
And lets not forget that Autumn also means Football! However, the word "football" means something different over here. The locals think we are referring to Soccer when we talk about it, so we have started saying "American Football" and that pretty much clarifies our conversations :)

Traveling through the market dressed in his favorite Autumn Attire ;)

Purchasing some pumpkins 

6 months old and already throwing a football ;)

Team huddles ;)