Diwali
ChennaiPosted by Steph 2009-10-20 23:03:59Saturday 17th of October, 7.30am: i suddenly wake up at the sound of a machine-gun or a bomb or maybe both, outside on the street... War in Chennai??
No. It's Diwali. Or Deepawali in South India. The indian Festival of Lights is like both Christmas and New Year's Eve all together, a huge party. It mostly consist in lighting miniature oil-lamps (strings of cotton burning in terracota recipients, filled with oil), drawing Rangolis on the floor (ephemere drawings made of rice powder), going for last-minute-shopping, wearing new dresses, meeting relatives and friends, offering snacks, sweets or textiles, and...burning crackers and fireworks at any time of the day and night. The whole country is in "Ausnahmezustand".
I spent the whole day in my new saree, visiting some of my friends, shifting from one house to another and distributing gifts: Nalini, my vocal teacher, Nivia's parents, and then Mallika, my student in French (yep, i'm also giving french class now...)
In the evening, to escape the crackers, i went for the first time to an indian theatre, Sathyam in Royapettah, with Dairiima. At the ticket counter:
Me: - Where is the entrance for 'Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru'?
Employee: - Just go out, then straight, and then first door left...but madam...this is a tamil movie!?
Me: - (big smile, head wobble right left right)
Ok... i still can't and will never speak nor understand Tamil. But the expressions of the actors are so overexagerated (and i mean it positively) that you immediately understand what's happening. And the movie was reeeeaaaally funny. 
After the movie we went to the Café, the restaurant located on the 5th floor of the cinema complex. Forget the food, but the ambiance a la 70's is pretty cool. There is also a bowling lane and a Wi-Fi area where you can play singstar, guitar hero, etc...next time maybe ;) 
Since the dinner was not so great we decided to have at least a great dessert. How lucky! Exctasy, the restaurant of French Chef Michael Besse, is located just "under" Sathyam on the parking side. This place is simply awesome. We went for the black forest sandwich and the coffee tiramisu. At 95Rs and 160Rs quite expensive, but unforgettable...
http://www.pure-ecstasy.in/
Happy Diwali!
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