Diwali falls on Sunday 8 November this year. It is Lakshmi Puja in the north and west, Kali Puja in Bengal, Bandi Chhor Divas for the Sikhs, and for the Jains the night of Mahavira’s nirvana.
This is the Open Thread for Diwali. Talk about it, or about anything else.
In the Brown Pundits WhatsApp group this morning, a reader asked who wanted to talk about the history of Indian food. Red chillies and tomatoes came up first: the Portuguese brought them from South America. Another member shared B. G. L. Swamy’s Kannada book Namma Hotteyalli Dakshina Amerika, “South America in Our Stomach”. The first reader added that traditional Konkani poha is made without tomato, potato or chilli.
Poha is also a Diwali dish. Most Goans make five kinds for the festival: with milk, yogurt, jaggery, coconut milk and potato. The potato also came from the Americas. What on your Diwali table arrived after 1498?
Last week brought X.T.M’s 1,000th post on Brown Pundits. The first went up in December 2009.
The last thread, Open thread: Musk the sociopath?, is now closed. Carry on here.
‘Special connection with Pakistan’: US Senator Van Hollen, eying 2028 presidential bid, was born in Karachi
https://www.dawn.com/news/2043045/special-connection-with-pakistan-us-senator-van-hollen-eyeing-2028-presidential-bid-was-born-in-karachi
Like Senator Van Hollen, I was born in Karachi. He represents Maryland in the Senate, which also happens to be the state in which I grew up.
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