Diwali

Joy of light
let it burn.
Earthenware love.

Madame Chair, Fellow Toastmasters, and welcome guests, I would like to invite you to share with me this most wonderful time of year; Diwali. Known by many as the “Festival of Lights”, Diwali is the biggest celebration in the Hindu calendar and Diwali celebrations are already underway, as tonight is the third of 5 nights. Diwali actually translates as “row of lamps” from Sanskrit; the written language of Hinduism. In The Festival of Lights, Diwalis and firecrackers are strong symbols, representing the victory of light over darkness. The strongest spiritual meaning is the awareness of the “inner light”; the personal triumph of light over dark. This light refers to our spirit, or our soul. The image of the inner light, or candle seems to transcend religion, and culture; it seems to be universal. With the realization of this inner light comes compassion, love, and the awareness of the oneness of all things.

Tonight I would like to share with you tonight the stories Diwali celebrates, a summary of how each of the 5 days of Diwali are celebrated today, and how we as a family celebrate this Festival of Light.

The first story Diwali celebrates is the return of a Great King and his wife; Rama and Sita, from 14 years of banishment from their Kingdom. During this time, they fought battles, and Rama conquered a great demon. Upon their return, their entire Kingdom lit up rows of lamps, or Diwali, to celebrate. Firecrackers are also lit to signify Rama killing the demon, and to celebrate his victories in battle. The second story of Diwali is the day Krishna, one of the major Gods, defeated Indra, the deity of thunder and rain.

The third story of Diwali, also centred around the lighting of lamps, worships Maha Lakshmi, one of the main Goddesses in Hinduism. She is the Goddess of wealth, prosperity, light, wisdom, generosity, and courage. Hindus pray to her to thank her for the harvest for this year, and also pray to her for success in the upcoming year’s harvest.

Just as Hindus honour the inner light at Diwali, every year Diwali lights up the skies and the streets with 5 nights of celebration shared between family and friends strengthening the bonds between us. It is the illumination of the New Year’s New Moon, the darkest night in the Hindu year. During these celebrations many Pujas - or Hindu worship services – take place to Krishna, and Maha Lakshmi.

On the first day of Diwali, doorways are decorated with flowers, and Rangolis, which are patterns made with powder or flowers just inside the front of your home. Diyas, which are clay pots, are also used like oil lamps. They are lit every night during Diwali to signify the triumph of light over darkness. Firecrackers are also lit to celebrate Rama’s victory in battle. On the second day of Diwali, you purchase new clothing, and metals. The metal you purchase can be as simple as a new metal bowl that you will use to make offerings in the Puja to Maha Lakshmi. The third day of Diwali is known as Govardhan Puja, and it is the night where Krishna’s defeat of Indra is celebrated. The fourth day of Diwali, the Lakshmi Puja marks the most important day of Diwali, where Hindus worship Maha Lakshmi. This is the night of the New Moon, (for those of you who weren’t aware, the New Moon is tomorrow night) and it marks a new year. The fifth day of Diwali is known as Bhaiduj, and it is the day when brothers and sisters meet to express love and affection for each other. This is the day where people visit their families to exchange gifts, sweets, and food.

In my family, we celebrate Diwali when we are invited by my Grandmother to a Puja to worship Maha Lakshmi, at her home. As her eldest son’s family, we sometimes arrive early and help with the decorations, and preparing for the Puja downstairs. After all the guests have arrived, and found a place to sit downstairs, the Puja begins.

A Puja is a prayer service, usually headed by a priest, in someone’s home. The priest opens the Puja by asking Maha Lakshmi to enter the house. We pray to her and make offerings to her. Once she is in the house and has been worshipped, the priest closes the prayer service. Then we enjoy a feast of good food, and as we are leaving the house at the end of the evening, we are each given small take-home bags with fruit and sweets inside.

Tonight, I have shared with you one of the most significant celebrations in Hinduism; what it means to Hindus, and how this Festival of Lights, or at least the element of the inner light, can be shared by everyone. Hindus celebrate Diwali by giving gifts, sweets, and spending time with their families. They celebrate the return of the Great King Rama and his wife, Sita, from their 14 years of banishment. They also celebrate many victories in battle of light over darkness, and they celebrate Maha Lakshmi, and thank her for the good harvest. All this they celebrate by lighting Diwalis, or “rows of diyas”, and firecrackers.

I would like to close in the same way I opened; with a verse from my Grandfather:

You always must offer
your heart with joy,
Lakshmi Mata guides your dreams as you pray.
I shall keep watch over you,
marking time,
Faithfully you will become part of me.

Postcards from Home

“I went to Europe to paint the great cathedrals, but I couldn’t get our home out of my mind …” Amy March. Home, and family is the 1994 version of Little Women, for me.

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What makes a house a home? Well, your home is where your heart is, and that is unique to everyone. For some of us, it’s a place where we feel safe. For others, it’s based on who is waiting there for us when we get home each day, whether that is a pet, or other members of the family. And for others still it all has to do with the memories we take away from our homes, and carry with us throughout our lives.

For my first speech, Madame Chairperson, Fellow Toastmasters, and Valued Guests, I would like to discuss a little bit about my childhood memories of my family’s home, the family traditions we celebrated there, and the community that was our building when I was growing up.

Until I was 12 years old I lived at 170 Sentinel Road, in a corner apartment. This building was situated barely one minute west of Keele St, right in between Finch and Sheppard.

Let me take you into my apartment. I remember that my Mother always encouraged imagination and creativity, and gave my sister and I all the tools we needed to develop our imaginations and our ability to create stories.

My sister and I would often play out on the balcony in our giant Little Tykes Turtle Sandbox for Hours, or under a tent made out of a Carebear blanket and chairs. Under this tent we would often take different pieces of plastic “play food” and have our own picnic there listening to a nature soundtrack of a rainfall in a forest.

We also had Lego, Duplo, and PlayMobil, and we would set up entire towns all over the living room that would last for days, with a PlayMobil mansion we got from Santa one year, hospital equipment, a railway, a farm set, and a Duplo house among other things.

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Our house was also a place for many family gatherings. Easter and Hallowe’en were some of my favourites. We would wake up Easter morning to an apartment filled with chocolate eggs and bunnies that the Easter bunny left for my sister and I to gather up; lining the hallway from our bedroom to the living room, on the kitchen table, by the TV and radio – EVERYwhere!

On Hallowe’en, my cousins would come over, and the adults in the family would hide candy all over the apartment, and then we would search everywhere in the dark, using only flashlights, to try to find all the goodies that were hidden. Those were good times!

Another family tradition was Friday night. Every day of the week would bring health food to our table, but Friday night … we would use this little wooden yellow table, and we would have hot dogs, chips, orange pop, and we could watch any movie we wanted! Luxury is simple when you’re seven years old!

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Taking a step back for a moment, to see the bigger picture, this place that we lived in was more than “just” a building; it was a community. Our building was filled with young families, and very friendly people.

My Mother was friends with the superintendent’s family for years, so we always had a place to go and spend time with friends in our own building whenever we wanted; how grown-up that felt! They had sons that were a little older than us, and They had a Nintendo Super Mario game in their room; a HUGE attraction when you’re about seven years old.

I can remember playing with a lot of the kids in the building all year round. Our backyard was divided into a flat area large enough to get most of a baseball game onto, and along the far side was a strip of graded earth that started low and rose to over six feet at the far end, so that third base was about four feet higher than the rest of the baseball field. In the fall, we would pile leaves at the bottom of the hill, and roll or jump down the hill into the leaves, and all the kids would help to gather up the leaves for that purpose. In the winter, we would slide down the highest section of the hill, and our Father and cousins would make turns and ramps out of the snow and ice, and play the kind of game that all guys play, no matter what age, of who can get up to the fastest speed going down the hill.

Another favorite winter pastime for us was when the superintendent’s husband would plow the snow to the back end of the driveway, (back in the days when we … had snow in winter!), and our Father would take hours carving and shoveling out house or fort designs for us to play in, and they would last until another snowfall meant they needed to be plowed over, or they would melt.

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No matter what the time of year, there was always something going on at 170 Sentinel Road, always some adventure, or new game. It was a huge part of my childhood, and I have many fond memories of it. It also has also painted a picture in my mind of what I want my future home to be like, to feel like, and what memories the next generation might create for themselves there.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to share my own memories with you, here tonight.

My Football Report III

Ha! The horns (Vuvuzelas), the beehive, as people are calling it, are making it sometimes difficult for the players that the noise-making fans are routing for to communicate to each other, and sometimes even to hear the whistle. Fans are noticing it over the TV too. “They ultimately decided against banning vuvuzelas at the 2010 World Cup due to the fact that they were such an integral part of South African culture.”

The children that join the players on the pitch before the game are called "matchday mascots". The word is that they could be representing friendship through football, or also different community campaigns from the home towns against violence, racism, or gangs. They might also be, in some cases, children of the football players themselves. They might also have won a competition. It is also potentially the different football clubs trying to bring families to the game (does that mean it's a fundraising initiative then for families who could not otherwise attend?)

But I can't seem to get any info on who organized that specific element of the event. Any leads?

I have also conducted research into the structure of the World Cup, and it looks like if you're just interested in getting down to the team eliminations, June 25th is just about the time to check back into this tournament!

My Football Report II

Okay, it looks like three rows, 4 back, 2 middle, 3 forward, and a miscellaneous man who takes the centre kick position (a 4th forward?)

Still constant buzzing … maybe I should get my ears cleaned?

Ooops! Australia didn’t allow for more than 1 goal a game in the qualifying … and within the first 30mins Germany got 2 goals …

The offside rule is definitely different then in hockey. With no blue line equivalent, how is it decided? Sometimes it seems to even be called VERY close in to the “goalie crease” as well.

Today’s keeper kolours; Aus = red, Ger = green.

Wow, they use a lot more tape than hockey players do to keep their pads on!

It’s gorgeous how they set up a play so close to the sidelines when they get to the offensive zone, then drop a pass back and a team mate tries to score a goal. Beautiful!

Aaww! The hands-off policy. It looked like that one Australian DID touch a German player when they were both going after the ball, but then he raised his hands quickly. I guess to avoid touching him further and actually getting a penalty/yellow card. Then he helped the guy up. That was sweet!

What is the blue arm band for?

Added minute? What are minutes added for?

What do these mean, exactly?
Possession: Ger = 57%, Aus 43%
Fouls: Ger = 5, Aus = 10
Shots on Goal: Ger = 10, Aus = 2

So, it looks like the FIFA World Cup is the “Football Olympics”. Each team only gets about 2 months together, and is a different make-up then the usual clubs they play on. Am I getting this right?

When there are throw-ins, are other people allowed off the pitch? At one point there were two guys fighting each other outside the white lines.

I agree that red card call on Cahill was too strong. But 56 minutes? I thought you got a yellow card FIRST.

What are the rules around substitutions?

Sorry, who are the green and yellow fans in this white a blue jerseyed game? The Aussies, apparently.

I’m kind of enjoying watching this game. I don’t know everything that’s going on, and it isn’t hockey, but it’s okay!

Soccer-roos? Cute!

The commentators said at the beginning of Germany, being such a YOUNG team, that they have a lot of promise. They asked; can that promise deliver? It looks like it! They countered that with Australia being a much older team in general.

Football and hockey BOTH use passing back to their goalies.

Still not sure what it means Exactly to “bend it”

At least a third of these drops seem to be one player tripping over another players’ legs and anther third seems to be the trip-er player sliding down to make the kick.

They keep saying “Australia playing with 10 men” As in, including the goalie? Does that mean a red card is playing with one man down, like a hockey penalty, but only for something like Fifty-Six minutes?!? Wow.

How many soccer balls do they play with during a game?

Is Hockey more Dramatic in their injuries than Football? Let’s try and tally this up.
# Of drops: 44 Times the player stayed down & milked it: 4 “Booked for diving”: 2

So, with only 4 times when the guys who went down and stayed down and “cried”, and 2 times when the guys “faked it”; taking a dive when they didn’t have too, I’d say football is potentially LESS dramatic than hockey!
Notice I am NOT comparing the fighting aspect here, just putting the reputation of footballers going down all dramatic and in pain.

Then again, maybe the World Cup is like Olympic hockey as well; less dramatic falling / less fighting then the regular season football / NHL. Who knows?

Men becoming legends in football, and heroes in hockey. I don’t quite agree with that!

My Football Report

Written by a die-hard year-round hockey fan.

I Love the slides! These guys get awesome mileage out of them!

If you got cut in hockey, you’d get yourself cleaned/stitched up right away – there would be no running around the pitch with a bleeding lip (or skating around the rink). And the guy STILL looks like he’s bleeding about 10 minutes later.

Holy bloody beehive! The fans just don’t run out of hot air!

Why in the world do the goalies not know what team they belong to? In hockey, the goalie is the most “decorated” player on the team … USA is orange, England is wearing green? In a sport so fatally and faithfully loyal to their team colours, football goalies just haven’t gotten the memo.

They ARE much better behaved; I’ll admit that. No penalty boxes, and once you’re wearing a bumble-bee cuff around your arm, you know the next bad things you do you’re out of the game. So play nice, boysss!

These guys have a rep for falling so dramatically and ALL the time, but maybe isn’t quite that bad (at least not this game).

First goal the USA has gotten against England outside of England since 1950? Is that what I heard?!? If only the US hockey teams played so … well … when they were playing in Canada!

I LOVE the fan colours! (at least they’re not wearing orange).

Joey Altidore leaving the pitch – what just happened? I don’t understand the substitutions …

Nail-biting, isn’t it? Ummm …

It looks like all just stand around when the ball will be thrown of kicked back onto the pitch. Please explain their positions!

91 minutes in, I finally here my first recognizable cheer!

Nice changing billboards!

I’d love to see the ball weigh 5 or 10 pounds more. It might be less of a tennis match then.

So that’s it? It’s over? no kick-out? No overtime? So do they have a way to determine who is the stronger team in the draw; who has more points going in?

… and how is your team supposed to win when you’ve got No World Cup beards!?!?!

All in all, I think I like hockey better.

If I’m still feeling sick tomorrow, I will watch the Germany game, and see if I understand anything any better then.