Diwali at Trafalgar Square

The Diwali festival was celebrated in Trafalgar Square, London with great pomp. The Mayor of London had hosted the Diwali celebration on Sunday, 19th October 2008. It is called Mayor of London - Diwali. I took Bakerloo line from Kenton to Charing Cross and took Trafalgar Square Exit. There were lots of Indians flocking around in that area, although I had reached the venue quiet early. There was huge Lord Ganpati Idol standing in front of the Trafalgar monument. The Diwali Celebrations Stage was put up infront of the Trafalgar Square Monument. There were tents setup by different NGOs on the square. They were distributing Diwali Greeting Cards and Balloons. After some time the celebrations started with prayer to Lord Ganesha and speech my Mayor of London.

The program continued with lots of Bollywood songs and dances. The place became crowded slowly. There were food stalls with Indian offering Indian food. I grabbed some food stuff to eat. Since I had to go to Birmingham the next day, I left for the day.

How to prepare Karanji in UK

Well precisely, the question is 'How to prepare Karanji in UK with limited resources and skillsets?'. I wanted to prepare some faral for Diwali on my own and thought of preparing Karanji. Being outside India and had limited resources, the best option was to lower expectations and manage with what was available.

The Ingredients for covering:

• Wheat Flour



• Luke warm water



• Milk

The Ingredients for the stuffing

• 1.5 cup Desicated Coconut - Since fresh grated coconut was not available



• 4 to 5 tbs Gud - Jagrey



• 2 to 3 tbs Honey



• Luke warm milk



• pinch of safforn

Oil to fry.

Preparation:

Step 1 : Knead the wheat flour in to dough with help of some Luke warm water and milk. The dough should be slightly thick compare to that of made for chapatis. This will help the Karanji to hold together when frying it in oil. Cover the kneaded dough with piece of cloth and keep it aside.

Step 2: Shred about 5 tbs of Jagrey and mix it with the descicated coconut in the mixing bowl. Add small quantity of milk and try to mix the jagrey with the cocount. If it doesnot mix properly then place the mixing bowl in microwave for 5 seconds. When the mixture gets warm its easy to blend it together. Add some honey and pinch of saffron to it.

Step 3: Next step is to prepare the Karanji. Make small balls of the dough. Prepare small sized chapati out of it. It should be more thicker then the chapati to hold the stuffing inside it. Slowly add the stuffing to it. Fold the chapati into half and press the corners of the chapati to prevent the stuffing to falls off.

Step 4: While filling the Karanji with stuffing, heat oil in kadhai. Add the Stuffed Karanjis in the pre-heated oil. When the Karanji is Golden Brown remove it and place it on kitchen towel.

The Karanjis are ready to eat.

Lentils Rangoli

Staying in Nottingham and commuting to London on weekdays for Hi-Tech Consulting job, I had less time to buy Rangoli and other stuff from Leicester. But this was not enough to dampen by hopes of celebrating Diwali with big pomp. I checked the kitchen rack and picked Mung Dal and Matki. The red lentils - Masoor dal was missing. I immediately baught it from Tesco. Hurray!!! the ingredients for the perfect Diwali Rangoli were ready. I pulled the IKEA side table from one corner of the room and drew a flower on it. I started pouring different colored dals or lentils in the flower petals and the center. I used the painting brush to equalise level of the lentils and to format them in the desired shape. My rangolis center design was complete and was wondering to add something more to it. We had baught tea coaster from Crate and Barrel in Richmond, VA and never used them ever. After a year or so, it was the right time to use them for the first time. I placed the candels in the tea coasters and poured lentils in the tea coaster around the candel. So was my diwali rangoli complete. I left London next day for week to attend my consulting Job at TFL site.

Diwali decoration

We had recently baught a IKEA standing lampshed which almost resembeled a Kandil.
I had baught some glass balls which are attached on the Xmas Tree and a beaded rope from Poundland. I thought of preparing a Toran out of it. I joined the glass balls on the green and red beads rope with strings. And our so called Anglo-Indian Toran was all ready for Diwali.
I literally created something intresting out of nothing. After seeing me doing all this, Abhi to got excited and joined me in the preparations. Next on the list was Rangoli.

Diwali in Nottingham

We moved to UK in October 2006 and were put up in SACO service appartments for month. With most of our home stuff being shipped from US to UK, we celebrated our frist diwali after marraige without to much to do. We moved in the so called permanent rented home in Novemeber 2006. I decided to celebrate our first diwali after marraige in Nottingham in 2007. Its better late then never. :)
One week before diwali, I tried to convince Abhi that we should celebrate diwali. But he was as usual reluctant to follow any Indian Cultural stuff. But I never gave up hope as usual and went down and baught some chirstmas decoration stuff from Poundland and red lentils packet from Tesco. When I reached home back he was still wondering what I am all up to. I started preparing for the diwali decoration.