Visa

This is a short and sweet post. I just received email notification that I have been given my visa. So it is all systems go for India.

Prospective tenants

Great news - it looks like I have prospective tenants for my house. Yipeee! They have cleared their credit, landlord and personal reference checks and should be signing a tenancy agreement through my lettings agents next week. And moreover they want to sign up for the whole two years! This is quite a relief actually as it means that the house will not be empty, that if something goes wrong the agents can sort it out and all my bills are covered. As a consequence, I have just spent the past two hours reading the fine detail of the tenancy agreement, listing up all the insurance specific thiings to be added for the thatch roof insurance cover, and listing all the suppliers and people I use to do various jobs around the place, service boilers, sweep chimneys, service Rayburn, deliver logs etc etc so that the Agent has all this detail to hand for when things are due and who to contact. Also making a folder of operating instructions documents for each of the appliances to be left in the house.  Phew! Another things ticked of my preparations list. Now I think I deserve some time with a nice cup of tea and a good book, some easy reading I think.

shubh diwali!

Diwali ( or Deepaavali) is one of the many festivals celebrated in India. It is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists. Its timing varies with the Hindi lunar calendar but in 2009 it falls now on 17th October. Coincidently the day I have invited some friends round prior to me leaving the UK.

So what is Diwali all about? It literally means a 'rows of lighted lamps' and is commonly called the Festival of Lights in English. It is celebrated worldwide, wherever there are large Indian expat communities, eg in the UK in Leicester and Southall, London. As I look forward to it next year in India, I find out that it is a huge celebration lasting five days - bring it on!  Houses are lit with hand-painted clay lamps (diwas), colourful rangoli drawings, and henna. It is a time when businesses pay off all debts, new clothing is purchased, gifts are exchanged, and food is celebrated, particularly dried fruit, nuts and in particular sweets - Indians it seems have sweet tooths to rival anyone's. Hilary tells me that in Orissa houses are blessed at this time.

Tradition has it that it was the time when Lord Rama returned after 14 years of exile during which he fought and won a battle against the demons and the demon king, Ravana. People light up their houses to celebrate his victory and to welcome him back. So it signifies the victory of good over evil and the banishment of darkness. Pretty good stuff in my book even today. So let's hope we can rid the world of a few more evils in the coming here.

"The night is black

Kindle the lamp of love

With thy life and devotion"

by Rabindranath Tagore