After graduating from UConn, saying bye to Hartford, arriving at Michigan, joining Ford, and enjoying with work friends, it was time to head to California to meet some friends from my undergrad and celebrate Diwali with them.
During this time of my life, I knew how to drive, but I failed to clear the driving practical examination. For that reason, I had to rely on the Uber and other ride hailing services to get from one place to the other during my stay at California. Good thing that California had a good transportation system and it was easier for me to get to places and definitely had a great time checking out all the places.
If you remember, last year, I celebrated Diwali with my UConn buddies and Hartford roommates. This year, as I was in Michigan and didn’t have a family here, I decided to head to California and have some good time with some of my close friends.
Flights from Detroit, MI to Las Vegas, NV were always cheap and this time was no exception. Having said that, I didn’t want to spend 5+ hours in a bus traveling from Vegas to LA. So, I booked a flight from Detroit, MI to Los Angeles, CA.
My excitement knew no bounds the day I booked the ticket and started packing my bags. I was going to meet some of my closest friends and always loved to spend time with them. In my excitement, I didn’t even feel the bus ride from the airport to the orange county where my friends were living at that point in time.
My roommate, Ravi, was kind enough to drop me at the airport and that’s when my journey began. The flight felt short as I spent most of the time napping and resting. By the time, I deboarded, I could feel the time difference spreading its magic on my human body, but, that didn’t deter me to not enjoy myself that evening.
I waited patiently for my bus to arrive and took sit in the back. I didn’t know how long it would take, so I told my friends that they should carry on with their dinner and I would join them sooner. It took me almost an hour to get to my friends’ place and was so hungry by the time I reached.
My friends were kind enough to wait for me to join them for dinner. It was such a nice gesture and I loved it.
The night was almost over and I desperately needed some shut eye, as the next day was the anticipated Diwali night.
I remember waking up quite late in the morning and going through the ordeals of the day. We were to celebrate Diwali late in the evening, so we spent the entire morning procrastinating and cleaning a little bit. Looking at the mess at my friends’ apartment, it felt nice to help them out clean. BTW, cleaning is a mental relaxation for me, so I loved it.
Before we knew, the evening was upon us. Being a guy, it took me less than 5 minutes to get ready for the Diwali celebrations, and I spent good chunk of an hour waiting for girls to get ready for Pooja and celebrations.
When everyone was ready, it was finally time to get started with the proceedings. Being an atheist, I maintained safe distance from all the rituals and Pooja and just followed my friends told me to. I was the least bothered about Pooja and was more focused on food and spending time with my lovely friends.
What felt like more than 10 hours, the Pooja finally ended with an aarti for the Gods and Goddesses in the Hindu mythology and I made a point to make some goofy faces when everyone was paying their respect to the holy deity of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi.
After the aarti was over, it was time to head to other friends’ apartment as they were also celebrating Diwali. My friends just told me to behave as I didn’t know most of them, to make a good first impression. Before heading to their place, though, we clicked some thousands of pictures, because, you know!
Man, it was a long evening. I was happy that I could finally eat some delicious food. When I got my plate in my hand, I focused more on the food, rather than talking to people. I know it was bad of me, but I was just hungry and not too thrilled about attending many Poojas.
The evening was finally coming to an end, and I was tired. I just changed into my night clothes and didn’t even realize when I went to bed!
It was a good day to spend with friends.
Next day – exploring some scenic views in LA.
stochasticity 
One thought on “October 20, 2017 – Diwali, Los Angeles, California, USA”