Tuesday, August 21, 2007

the parade


The independence day celebrations in Dallas was too gud.. The event took place at lone star park,grand prairie(in pic) and the first few minutes of being there was pure ecstasy.. So many fellow Indians, clad in colourful costumes and speaking the familiar languages..

All the many stalls selling kurtis, chaat, and masala dosas.. woohoo.. for i moment it felt i was in India.. Never expected so many Indians there.. Sure, Dallas has the most number of Indians in US.. But witnessing it was truly a pleasure... but after a while i cud hear the Hindi music coming from the stage, which was not up to the mark.. The singers weren't very lively and so the crowd wasn't with them..

But soon the parade started and we marched off in that direction.. i have made a few friends here so we all were there as one big gang.. we kept hogging and the food kept all of us so busy the entire evening :) I had chikku kulfi after such a long time.. it brought back memories of the days when me n cousins used to pluck out chikku's directly from the tree at my granny's place.. sigh good old childhood..

Anyways, after that the fireworks started and we spread out sheets n mats on the ground and had a spectacular show in the sky lying down cosily thru the night.. It truly felt special celebrating independence day cos never had it seemed so important..Always it was the skits that we presented in school on the day or the patriotic songs we sang or the laddu which we got that used to hold the central attention in my mind.. But this one time, may be being away from my country made it all the more important for me and hence we made a concious effort to celebrate it..


On a different note i finished reading the Kite runner by Khaled Houssaini..The story is very much gripping and i did enjoy reading every page of it.. I had never wondered how life in Afghanistan would be and it was amazing to find it so vastly different that ours.. surely deserves the appreciation the author received, especially this one being his debut book.But at some point i did feel that the book has been a little over-hyped about..Or may be his second book is really too gud.. well i shud read that one too soon.. but surely "the kite runner" is a worth read for every human being..

31 comments:

Keshi said...

The effort looks Amazing! Im glad it was a FUN event and a moment taken to rem n celebrate ur motherland.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE Diya!

Keshi.

abhartiya said...

hey diyadear, i get the gold for second time in a row! :)

dallas has so many indians? i didnt know..wow the fireworks look real good...

nice new template diya..

cheers!

Unknown said...

I feel more patriotic when i'm away from home :P

And a nice new template I see here. Pretty cool!

Little Miss Muffet said...

oh sounds like u had a really good time..we had an independence day function in our apartment complex too since 80% of the population is indian..of course there were no fireworks though :(
i love the kite runner..i think it will rate as one of my favourite books...
and i love the new look on ur blog! :D

Preeti Shenoy said...

Love the new look!
Great that u got to clebrate it there too.
That book has been on my list too for long.
Currently reading "vertigo" by ashok banker..Did not like his earlier work--but this one seems ok.

Sindhya Govind said...

Nice to know that you have lot of Indians in Dallas. It is true that when we are away from our homeland, we really understand the value and culture of our nation.

Kite runner is worth a reading. I just started reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and I must say its been good read so far.

diyadear said...

hey keshi, ya looks like a sequel to ur post on indian independence eh?/ ;)
wacko,
sorry dear.. the gold is this time taken away by keshi gal..but silver is still urs :)
Mr J,
yeah guess thats the funda behind all the patriotism :D
miss muffet,
wow that sounds cool.. so u must be having many friends too.. cool enjoy!!!

ps, me reading life of pi.. i think u only recommended it to me :) never heard of mr banker he he

Sg, thanks for dropping by.. yeah hope to get that one soon.. but my req position in library is still at 160 sumthing :(

glad that all of u liked my new template :)

Unknown said...

Hey really nice template...and dat inspires me to change mine too...lets c when i get the time
and the energy to do that!
The idea of independence day when u're not in india seems all the more patriortic to me...good post!
Btw that was a rangoli in my wordless wednesday pic! Tk Cr

Anonymous said...

u should check this if you are paulo's fan:
http://ithinktobeme.blogspot.com/2007/06/this-is-really-worth-something.html

and yes, i have read "kite runner" too... its awesome...
also chk "a thousand splendid suns"

Anonymous said...

LOVE THE NEW TEMPLATE:P

Radha said...

Diya, I love the new look of your blog! The picture of the flower is beautiful!

And all this mention of chaat & kulfi has made me hungry!! Happy Independence day to you (belated)!

I enjoyed reading The Kite Runner too... what i liked the most about the book was the relationship between the boy & his father...theres love, respect, even jealousy involved...its such a complex relationship and yet its never melodramatic.

a blue eyed girl said...

beautiful template! sounds like u had a great time....i too loved the kite runner, have you read "Ali and Nino" by Kurban Said? it too was a wonderful book.

Nanditha Prabhu said...

i liked this make over!
your blog looks lovely with those flowers!
it is surely giving me ideas!!!

when we are away from our home we tend to understand how much it means to us ! I can understand how you must wanted to savor every moment of that day ! You seems to have enjoyed it thoroughly!
you have got a nice shot there of the fireworks!

diyadear said...

akanksha,
gald u like it..
dj,
thanks for the link.. will check it out..
kaylee, i love it too :D
radha,
thank u.. yeah the relationship is expresssed beautifully..
blue eyed gal,
thanks for dropping in.. glad u liked the template n no i havent read the book. but will try to check out.
nanditha,
thanks a lot.. glad u liked it :)
n ya it was a very nice day. thoroughly enjoyed it

abcd said...

very interesting post... just like your new template.
best wishes.

Maddy said...

having fun in dallas eh? we had a parade but LA is so far away and no fun to drive all the way to..

I have yet to read Kite runner, have it in the rack though. Pi on the other hand is a great book, though a bit morbid at times..

as a follow up to the kite runner, you should see the movie 'osama'. apparently based on a true story of an afghan girl, it is profound..

Cris said...

You got a new look! It looks great! Hey, India is nr. 1 banana producer, so, that picture on my blog surely made you feel homesick, and you please come anytime, it will be a pleasure to have you here!

diyadear said...

p-g,
thank u.. im so happy u all liked the new look of my blog :)
maddyji,
i believe its the first time enthu here for us abt the parade i mean.N will check out osama. have heard its gud beofore too :)
cris,
oh thats so nice to hear.. yup will try to visit brazil :)

Keshi said...

yeyyyyyy Im a Gold Medallist WOOHOO WOOT WOOT Wolf Whistle!

lol Im crazy!

keshi.

Anonymous said...

Cute template and loved it.

Devil Mood said...

Funny because I didn't read anything about the celebrations in other Indian bloggers. I think maybe people who are away from India give it even more value. Or maybe I've been reading the "wrong" blogs.
50 years isn't it? A big date! I'm glad uou enjoyed it, it must've been truly special :)

Devil Mood said...

Oh I can't add up, can I? 60 years!! :)

MeMyself_n_I said...

amazing photos. guess you must've had an excellent time. :-)

and yes, isn't the kiterunner terrific?

real nice template.

diyadear said...

keshi... yup a big congrats!!!
pria, thank u..
DM,
ya may be its cos its my first yr away from home.. :)
hey teenager,
oh yeah i remembered ur blog post abt it whne i was hooked to reading the book ;)

Unknown said...

...

WOW!

love what you have done with the place...its...its amazing.

FH said...

Hi Diya,thanks for visiting me!I have replied to your q.
I like the color of your blog and I see Keshi and Ms Muffet here too,two of fave girls!:))

Maddy said...

wish you and family a happy onam

Aswin said...

good to know that you got to celebrate independence day there.home away from home. the mention of kulfi and chaats made me hungry :-). the pics are great. lone star park looks amazing.

Bobkat said...

That sounds like it was a wonderful event to attend. I hope you had a great Independance Day! :)

I love the new look of your blog. So pretty!

tulipspeaks said...

love the new fresh look of ur bloggie!



ammu.

Nanditha Prabhu said...

OONNAASHAMSAKAL!

The 'Crush'er..

At age 13 I was a lanky boy with slight traces of a moustach below my nose.I was shy and except during classes, I always wore my sports ca...