Diwali fireworks rant

Soapbox hour:

 Given the packaging in which Indian fireworks are boxed, it was hardly surprising to see children as young as 5 or 6 playing with firecrackers and worse alone in the streets around our house at Diwali time.

From the look of these packets, seems it's probably OK to give sparklers to babies - and we suspect that the Barbie doll is going to come to a sticky, blackened end somewhere along the line.

Awww sweet or what! Definitely appealing to the under fives, this box....
At least “The number of children employed in these factories has come down drastically. Today, the number would be around 3,000 children, mostly in the 14-17 year age bracket.” A state government survey had put the number at more than 30,000 in the mid-1990s" http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ne220912Burden.asp

Well self-righteous rant over, but some problems seem easier to fix than others....
 

Madras Crocodiles

Ca fait un moment qu'on passe notre chemain sur l'East Coast Road sans s'arrêter au "Madras Crocodile Bank" ("banque" de crocodiles). Voilà la visite est faite, pourtant nous ne sommes pas sûrs de vouloir faire un retrait de sitôt à cette banque tout à fait particulière...

Ces deux images sont des Mugger Crocodiles qu'on trouve encore à peu près partout en Inde. Sympathiques, ils ont l'aire de couler de jours paisibles. Ceci dit, on n'a pas assisté à l'heure du repas.

Celui à nez fin est un Ghairal, une espèce ménacée de disparition. Il peut rester sous l'eau jusqu'à deux heures sans sortir pour respirer, avec un rythme cardiaque de 2 à 3 battements par minute. Les Ghairal ont le nez trop fin pour attraper de grandes proies. Ouf !

Deepavali in company of the Irulai villagers

Diwali, festival of lights

 

The children have 5 days holiday from the American School this weekend for Diwali, an India-wide hindu and sikh festival wherein rows of lamps (Dipawali in sanskrit) are lit to welcome the goddess Lakshmi into homes, while firecrackers are lit to drive off evil spirits. Gifts are given. According to the legend, Lakshmi rose from the churning of a sea of milk to become the goddess of prosperity.

We think of it as a combination of Christmas and Guy Fawkes' night....

 

Yesterday we were very lucky to participate in the distribution of football shirts, school bags and 10th standard school books to some children of the Irulai people near to Mamallapuram with John Degler of SAVE International http://www.save-intl.org/

The gift-giving was good fun and the games the children played together were even better! Great fun was had by all, and it was definitely a Diwali to remember for our children. We are sure that the Irulai children will be very proud to display their new bags in school.

 

So thanks John for letting us tag along !