Diwali and the other Hindu religious festivals in India are about ritual and food, color and vibrancy, prayer, ritual and reflection, community, fellowship and noise. I love it! Glad they're trying to recreate it in Dallas.
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I lived in the SF Bay Area and I really miss the incredible Indian food there. The aromas from my neighbors toasting spices were wonderful.
It is events like this that represent the actual future of this country, not the idiocy in DC. Perhaps next year I’ll attend, it will confirm this old white man’s hopes for the future.
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What a lovely sentiment Mr C Neville! Your hopes for the future will be realized by this great nation precisely because of the strength that is embodied in this country’s DNA. Keep eating spicy food - it’s good for you!
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Seems like an all-out frontal assault on the endocrine system
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Good piece and the event will really take off when "real" Texans start showing up. Testimony to America and (surprisingly!) Texas's open-mindedness.
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I wish to bring another cheers to the celebrators of Diwali: starting last year, US Post Office issues a SPECIAL DIWALI STAMP. The price of the stamp covers within-USA delivery. Thus, for mailing to India multiple Diwali stamps would be necessary.
To all the Indian (or Indian origin) Students, Faculty and Staff at Marshall University, Huntington, WV, greeting and good wishes for Diwali - the Festival of Lights.
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."payasam, a comforting, saffron-stained milk pudding popular in Tamil Nadu, where the dish is often consumed first thing in the morning on Diwali, right after prayers.". No. The first consumed in Tamil nadu is Deepavali marundu (lehyam) literally meaning Deepavali medicine, a stick concoction made with ghee, jaggery and spices that helps with digesting all the rich sweeets and savory dishes consumed on this day.
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Sorry to pour cold milk on this, but those sweets are a major reason Indians have a very high incidence of diabetes.
On the other hand, you only live once....
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You are right about the diabetes incidence. The reasons are more complex than sweets. Modern lifestyle including stress, sedentary lifestyle have further worsened there risk for population that modern genetics has found to be predisposed to diabetes. I am advocating eating more of these but any means but singling it out for diabetes is not painting the complete picture
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Typo Correction
I am NOT advocating eating more of these by any means but singling sweets out for diabetes is not painting the complete picture
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I've been living in Dallas for the past 12 years and I've seen how the demographic of the city has changed. Texas is not a very diverse state, but the large metropolitan areas are becoming more diverse. I noticed how people were putting up Christmas lights in my neighborhood in October. At first, I thought people were crazy to start Christmas this early, until I learned it was for Diwali. I guess Indians are the silent migrants that nobody talks about.
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I live just off of Devon Avenue in Chicago, the commercial center of Indian life in Chicago —I’m jealous! Dallas has us beat hands down! Great article —gave me some great suggestions and ideas for the future!
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I live nearby in Uptown and after reading this article I want to try some of these sweets. Any bakeries on Devon you recommend?
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I concur with several of the other posters. As a 30+ year Dallas resident, I've been pleasantly surprised at the ethnic diversity in the DFW area - and along with that, outstanding cultural festivals and restaurants! So hard to keep my weight under control :-). But it is difficult to ignore our racial intolerance problems as well. Our state has a governor, Lt. governor, and attorney general who are outright embarrassments.
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I have never wanted to travel to India but now I definitely want to attend this festival in Texas!
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Love the article...very well written!
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sorry you are better off in places around NYC or the Bay Area where there are a lot more Indians. there may be small concentrations in places like Dallas but it is significantly less, and on top of that whenever I go there the feeling of racism is palpable.
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Old and weary stereotype. Sigh!!!
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We personally know many Indians in Texas, they have never complained of racism. One guy though did get mistaken for Mexican and was told by a huge white guy to go back to your country Mexico! Eh. To some all brown people look alike (head slap).
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Wow...it must be wonderful to live in places like NYC or the Bay area, where we know that there are never incidences of racism...
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It may come as a surprise to many NY Times readers but in the last few years Texas has become one of the country's most ethnically diverse and culturally interesting states. It's not just cowboys, Tex-Mex and bar-b-que anymore.
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i just can't wait to see texas' growing diversity express itself electorally!!
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The time will come and the tide will turn.
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Sounds like quite the celebration! Some of those sweets look incredible.
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those sweets just made my mouth water - absolutely yummy . . . ps
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No complaints.. like all Indians I love a good mela, but it seems as though the mela is mixing two festivals -- Dussehra & Diwali. It is at the former, a 10-day celebration which ends 20 days before Diwali that Ram-Lila is traditional. In the North of India.
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A good article on the Mela.
For American readers, it would have been helpful to give relevant information on religious importance of Diwali - and why it lasts 4 days in India.
Also, the article would have been richer if comparisons to Indian way of celebrating Diwali had been done. In India, it is largely a private family affair with no society at large involvement.
Finally, links to some recipes would have been helpful for non Indians and e even Indians - to try out some of these delicacies.
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Great suggestions -- but they did provide a link at the bottom to Diwali recipes:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/68861692-nyt-cooking/1426956-diwali-desserts
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The prayers are a family (and perhaps close friends) bonding session - though the celebrations afterwards are very much a society and a very-large event as everyone on your street in every neighborhood starts setting off fire crackers. The whole street lighting off fire crackers - I guess would make it a rather large 'family' event. :-).
So perhaps doing this in a stadium is kind of emulating an India like feel while respecting the laws of the land in the US (and not bursting fire crackers willy-nilly - which is quite norm in most Indian neighborhoods).
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yes on our recent trip to Dallas we had some pretty good Vietnamese in Irving - so much so we went back again the next day !
sub-continental milk sweets - always remind me of Peshawar about 40 years ago - coming upon a street stall piled high with glittering silver leaf coated squares of burfi/barfi - I've loved that stuff ever since.
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You're correct the cultures - and foods - across the border are very closely related.
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What a wonderful insight into this festival of food and cross-cultural celebration! Time to go to Dallas!
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Lovely article about a festive event, Ms. Krishna :)
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