indian holiday

Now that I am back in America, I am back to celebrating the holidays in familiar territory, land of the Indians (or as some people consider "Native Americans"). When I was in Israel last year, not many people knew what Thanksgiving was, let alone celebrated it. Fortunately I knew a few other Americans, one of whom invited me to a monthly potluck, which happened to fall on Thanksgiving thus designating it as a celebration of the holiday. At the shared communal meal, the Americans did their best to explain to the other guests what Thanksgiving was all about, and how the tradition for the sharing of a big meal started with the British pilgrims befriending the Indians. They taught them how to grow corn, hunt, and live off the land - the land they knew as home.

On my way to my hometown in Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, I was driving through an Indian reservation, and suddenly got the urge to see an Indian movie - from India. A good friend of mine works as a promoter for Hindi films, and usually lets me in for free. I was interested in seeing him and of course to satisfy my urge for all things Indian. I had also been listening to Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale's amazing new album for the past several weeks straight and this reflected my readiness to embrace the culture. Upon arriving into Phoenix, I emailed an Indian friend of mine, a former co-worker who has been living in the Phoenix area, to see if he wanted to join me for the Hindi movie. I had just heard that Bangladesh got hit by a devastating cyclone. To my surprise my friend was actually in his hometown of Calcutta India for a visit, and he sent an email the next morning notifying everyone that he was indeed safe despite his proximity to Bangladesh.

While the cyclone threatened the easternmost part of India's coast, 3 terror attacks threatened India's north just yesterday. A series of explosions blasted through courthouses in heavily populated cities of Uttar Pradesh. The area is a popular Hindu pilgrimage center, certainly a target for Islamist terrorists (as are any non-Islamic civilizations). As long as our world's cultures remain in conflict, they are also linked more than we may realize. The other day, my dad called for service on one of his electronic devices, only to find that the help desk calls were handled by a call center in India. The woman on the phone told him she knew it was Thanksgiving, and asked him to explain the holiday to her. He told her about the pilgrims sharing a meal with the indians, and now our families get together for a special time and to share a traditional meal. She thought this sounded like the standard family meals shared by Indian people on a regular basis, and wondered why we only did it once a year, but praised us for celebrating our freedoms. From Maricopa to Masala, themes of Indian culture filled my Thanksgiving holiday.