Sankranti

Last weekend our apartment complex celebrated Sankranti. This involved the construction of a bonfire in the grounds, which was lit up at night. Sweets, nuts and popcorn were handed out, and were thrown in the fire as we circled seven times. Actually, many people gave up early, myself included, because the fire was burning fiercely by now, and the walls within the complex grounds forced us a bit too close to the flames for comfort.

After our roasting, the remaining sweets were consumed by the spectators, rather than the conflagration. There were lots of sweets to eat, and any attempt at avoiding them was hampered by Roshni insisting that San and I took hers. After she had eaten a few herself, of course.


The next day we went for a walk to the top of the hill to watch the sunset. We met one of our ex-maid's on the summit. Her party were there to perform puja at the small temple located there. She gave us some sesame seed ladoos, traditional Maharashtra Sankranti fare, along with the words: "til gul ghya, ani god god bola" (let us be sweet to each other and let friendship prevail between us).

The sunset was fairly impressive - Roshni thought it looked like a lollipop. No sign of Comet McNaught though. Unsurprising as it would be close to the sun, the horizon was pretty hazy, and the geometry meant that from our latitude that the comet would barely be higher than the sun in the sky. Still, the sunset was worth watching, and we saw Venus shortly afterwards.