Saturday, November 3

 

 

The morning started slowly, but I managed to go for a forty minute walk before we sat down to brunch.

After this we did our Saturday cleaning and I had a shower to prepare for our evening out. Naa had flu so she phoned to tell us that she wouldn’t come.

At 15:30 we dressed and left for the school in Munkkiniemi where the Finnish Indian Association will hold its Diwali celebrations.

We get there at 16:00 and say hello to Shefali and others. We find a good seat near the the front and then go in search of samosas. I get three and we sit eating them.

The show starts and, as usual, it contains a mixture of speeches and performances. These prove more innovative than usual. I photograph two sisters who perform northern Indian and southern Indian dances simultaneously in a way that moves apart and then comes back together.

We will find ourselves pinned to our seats waiting to see if we have won the raffle while most of the rest of the audience leaves the hall and heads for the dining area to line up for food. Eventually we will discover that we have won nothing and go to join the queue.

Disaster! The doors have closed and we will have to wait for a second sitting. The promised forty minute wait will prove no more than ten, and we will soon have our paper plate in hand as we grab chapatti.

This year everyone has received a message asking them to bring their own cutlery to cut down on the use of plastic. We will have our forks with us.

We will drive home tired but happy.