Happy Diwali

Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, began today, and the London Guardian reports that the celebratory mood remains despite this last weekend's bombings:

The sound of firecrackers greeted the dawn in Delhi today as the city began the Hindu festival of Diwali in the wake of bomb attacks at the weekend that killed 59 people.

Defiant shopkeepers decorated their stalls with glowing lights and shiny tinsel to mark the festival of lights - representing the triumph of good over evil - but security was tight as investigators continued their hunt for the bombers.
[...]
Three blasts, all within an hour, ripped through a bus and two crowded markets on Saturday in an attack claimed by a group called Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group).

Analysts said it had ties with or was a front for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Taiba, an Islamic group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. India blamed Lashkar for an attack on the country's parliament in December 2001 which left 15 dead, including five attackers.

Facade Friend Velvet Bulldog is in India right now (returning in mid-week) and she supplied this note in a recent email:

However, with most attacks, the worst happens, and then things quiet down for a while. Security (or what passes for it here) has been increased all around the country and in the major market areas. Similar to post-9/11, we're probably safer now than we were before.

Gotta tell ya though, we're jumpy. Firecrackers are BIG in India and the kids love setting of the big ones--everyone was just about jumping out of our seats this morning whenever one was set off.

For more information on Diwali, check out the Wikipedia entry. I'm listening right now to some Hindu devotional music from the BBC Asian Network (which has a good Diwali page with video and links to more music