Friday, October 20, 2006
Diwali
Tomorrow is the day of Diwali - the Indian festival of lights.
Jaipur lit up
We have a delegation from India working in our offices at the moment(as part of a skills transfer program) and today's Friday morning tea was hosted by them with a Diwali theme.
Traditional dress abounded.
One of the guys(he seems to be generally accepted to be the most senior of the crew) spoke briefly about the history of the festival and its significance in Indian society[1].
Diwali has a rich history whose most probable origin is as a harvest festival.
Unsurprisingly for a polytheistic society like India this festival has grown to include celebrations for a wide range of gods and goddesses including
the welcoming of Rama, the Slaying of Mahisasura and the Defeat of Narkasur by Lord Krishna.
Of course today the festival has developed into something akin to the West's modern Christmas excesses[2], family wildness and outrageous bling.
the Golden Temple in Amritsar
What I found most compelling about Sachiien[3]'s talk this morning is how much emphasis he placed on Diwali as a coming together of all the religions and (crucially)castes of modern India.
The group that are currently here clearly encompass several castes[4] and this is often noticable in people's behaviours in things like willingness to argue or push a praticular idea etc.
Also within the group there are clear indications of caste-like groupings which never manifests as cliques but in the way that individuals interact with one another and with us[5].
It's very subtle but undeniable.
The visitors in my team have also talked quite a bit about about a move in modern India to remove the caste system entirely and a form of affirmative action that is being implemented to allow people of lower castes access to higher education etc.
abundance of candlelight
I get the feeling that Sachiien was speaking more to his fellow colleagues this morning than to us WASP-types and his conciliatory tone was fascinating.
[1] the majority of our visitors are Hindu though there is at least one Sikh as well. Diwali is also celebrated by the Jains and Buddhists
[2] I read a fascinating article a while ago about the excesses around Ramadaan in Dubai - but that's another story
[3] the unofficial number one dude
[4] word is that this includes some very high castes
[5] I've picked up that due to my relatively loud and brash way (perhaps all the swearing?[i]) they've come to the conclusion that I must be of a high-ish standing. I'm making an effort to not re-enforce this by swaggering too much, but the truth is that I do... whadyagonnado?
[i] for this I must thank my colleagues in the PnP Sys.Eng. department - it was life-changing.
fuck you's ous anyway! :)
Jaipur lit upWe have a delegation from India working in our offices at the moment(as part of a skills transfer program) and today's Friday morning tea was hosted by them with a Diwali theme.
Traditional dress abounded.
One of the guys(he seems to be generally accepted to be the most senior of the crew) spoke briefly about the history of the festival and its significance in Indian society[1].
Diwali has a rich history whose most probable origin is as a harvest festival.
Unsurprisingly for a polytheistic society like India this festival has grown to include celebrations for a wide range of gods and goddesses including
the welcoming of Rama, the Slaying of Mahisasura and the Defeat of Narkasur by Lord Krishna.
Of course today the festival has developed into something akin to the West's modern Christmas excesses[2], family wildness and outrageous bling.
the Golden Temple in AmritsarWhat I found most compelling about Sachiien[3]'s talk this morning is how much emphasis he placed on Diwali as a coming together of all the religions and (crucially)castes of modern India.
The group that are currently here clearly encompass several castes[4] and this is often noticable in people's behaviours in things like willingness to argue or push a praticular idea etc.
Also within the group there are clear indications of caste-like groupings which never manifests as cliques but in the way that individuals interact with one another and with us[5].
It's very subtle but undeniable.
The visitors in my team have also talked quite a bit about about a move in modern India to remove the caste system entirely and a form of affirmative action that is being implemented to allow people of lower castes access to higher education etc.
abundance of candlelightI get the feeling that Sachiien was speaking more to his fellow colleagues this morning than to us WASP-types and his conciliatory tone was fascinating.
[1] the majority of our visitors are Hindu though there is at least one Sikh as well. Diwali is also celebrated by the Jains and Buddhists
[2] I read a fascinating article a while ago about the excesses around Ramadaan in Dubai - but that's another story
[3] the unofficial number one dude
[4] word is that this includes some very high castes
[5] I've picked up that due to my relatively loud and brash way (perhaps all the swearing?[i]) they've come to the conclusion that I must be of a high-ish standing. I'm making an effort to not re-enforce this by swaggering too much, but the truth is that I do... whadyagonnado?
[i] for this I must thank my colleagues in the PnP Sys.Eng. department - it was life-changing.
fuck you's ous anyway! :)
// posted by werner @ 3:46:00 pm 
