Diwali experiences ...
Diwali, a mix of christmas and carnival
Not being Indian, Diwali is difficult but at the same time easy to explain. The best way I find (from the colombia perspective) is a mixture of Christmas and carnival. Let me explain in which sense. The spirit is similar to Christmas given the relevance of the celebration and the special traditions attached to it: people give gifts, people burn crackers, people buy new clothes and things, commerce is on a high seaon ... and if few words is the start of a new year, all people wich 'Happy Diwali", which sounds so much as 'Merry Christmas or Happy New year"! There are lights, many indeed cause Diwali is actually the festival of the lights, however there are not as many as in Christmas in many catholic/christian countries. It's difficult to explain, and there is where the "carnival" comparison comes in ... Diwali is not only about lights but also colors in general, paper lamps, drawings on the floor made of color powder (Javi described it very well) , music, posters ... I won't even try to describe Diwali professionally, so feel free to look at it in Wikipedia!
Diwali Trip, ten days to Himalayas
Javi and myself will be going north! yes, we will fly to New Dehli to go from there to the Himalayas! It's a lot what we have figured out about this trip, but basically the idea is to go to amazing towns/locations as Manali, Shimla and Daram Shala (this is where the Dalai Lama lives). Relax, awesome landscape and even some snow! that is what some people say. I can't wait to share some storied after we come back!
Diwali, at work ... a rewards and recognitions season
And because I won't be here in Diwali, besides the general introdction already given, the best I can share with you is how Diwali is celebrated at work. Today friday 20.10 was kind of the celebration of Diwali in my company. I heard a lot on how Diwali is shared inside the companies but it was just too cool to live it by myself. All started with the DIWALI GIFT. Normally in Diwali the boss gives to their employees sweets or nuts in nice boxes, it's kind of the "standard Diwali gift". In our company was not the exception, our boss called this orning one by one each of their employees (including us trainees) and gave in his office the Diwali gift personally. It was cool, since you fely it very personal and I guess the words for each person were customized ;-) The cool part was the DIWALI BONUS. The Diwali Bonus is extra cash that employees get, and you could see how besides the Nuts Box each person went out of our boss office with an envelop of cash. Honestly speaking, I have no absolut clue how much this shall be for each person (if 1/3 of salary, if a 1/2 salary or if even less or more) and I am very embarrased to ask them but all of them seemed very happy with what they got. As trainees we di dnot get any DIWALI BONUS, but this is totally understandable given our temporary status, the fact that it's been so short that we work here and well, the fact that Diwali is not something that has a meaning for us, but we got our Nuts Box, which is cool. After every employee got his/her present from the boss office he wwent out and in front of all of us gathered he said a small speech that basically was the highest expression of the REWARDS AND RECOGNITION strategy of my company, as I understand it ;-) Our boss said the traidtional "thank you words for being part of the company or the team" but suddenly he started saying that "as every year" it was the moment to reward thos who did an exceptional job. In this moment I got exited, I love recognitions in general! So he proceeded naming employees that had got the awards in past years and why, it was a kind of "past winners" roll call. Then he continued naming people tha this year also did a great job and that part I loved, since he named people from all levels, from the office boys (office boys are the guys that take care of minor operative work from cleaning, coffee over fotocopying, etc) over some executives. But in the end he came to the two winners! This year were two ladies, one was the general secretary and the other was a marketing executive, we all clapped and stuff, was nice! But the nices was the extra CASH that thay got! These two ladies got again in fron of all another envelop of money, Again how much it was, no clue! For me was too interesting to see how informal and simple Rewards work in my company: "you did it better than other, here is your extra money and have the others being a witness of it". All these happened in 15 minutes. It was truly interesting and nice to experience.
Finally the celebration ended ina restaurant, where our boss sponsored the lunch. Again nice to see him seated together with office boys, sharing the same table. I mean, I sai that, since generally (not in my company, but everywhere) people keep a lot of distance to others from lower levels and seing that was a proof that Diwali is such a wonderful tiem where people acknowledge loyalty and friendship. Of course I ate as a pig ;-) Photos here, photos there that ended with a team picture inf ront of teh restaurant. As if if has not been enough, back in the office our boss ordered ICE - CREAM for us. Come on it was nice ... it was so simple that was so incredible nice at the same time.
I owe you pictures, will share when I come back. But I just wanted to capture my fresh memories of this day and wich you all a HAPPY DIWALI! See you soon!
Not being Indian, Diwali is difficult but at the same time easy to explain. The best way I find (from the colombia perspective) is a mixture of Christmas and carnival. Let me explain in which sense. The spirit is similar to Christmas given the relevance of the celebration and the special traditions attached to it: people give gifts, people burn crackers, people buy new clothes and things, commerce is on a high seaon ... and if few words is the start of a new year, all people wich 'Happy Diwali", which sounds so much as 'Merry Christmas or Happy New year"! There are lights, many indeed cause Diwali is actually the festival of the lights, however there are not as many as in Christmas in many catholic/christian countries. It's difficult to explain, and there is where the "carnival" comparison comes in ... Diwali is not only about lights but also colors in general, paper lamps, drawings on the floor made of color powder (Javi described it very well) , music, posters ... I won't even try to describe Diwali professionally, so feel free to look at it in Wikipedia!
Diwali Trip, ten days to Himalayas
Javi and myself will be going north! yes, we will fly to New Dehli to go from there to the Himalayas! It's a lot what we have figured out about this trip, but basically the idea is to go to amazing towns/locations as Manali, Shimla and Daram Shala (this is where the Dalai Lama lives). Relax, awesome landscape and even some snow! that is what some people say. I can't wait to share some storied after we come back!
Diwali, at work ... a rewards and recognitions season
And because I won't be here in Diwali, besides the general introdction already given, the best I can share with you is how Diwali is celebrated at work. Today friday 20.10 was kind of the celebration of Diwali in my company. I heard a lot on how Diwali is shared inside the companies but it was just too cool to live it by myself. All started with the DIWALI GIFT. Normally in Diwali the boss gives to their employees sweets or nuts in nice boxes, it's kind of the "standard Diwali gift". In our company was not the exception, our boss called this orning one by one each of their employees (including us trainees) and gave in his office the Diwali gift personally. It was cool, since you fely it very personal and I guess the words for each person were customized ;-) The cool part was the DIWALI BONUS. The Diwali Bonus is extra cash that employees get, and you could see how besides the Nuts Box each person went out of our boss office with an envelop of cash. Honestly speaking, I have no absolut clue how much this shall be for each person (if 1/3 of salary, if a 1/2 salary or if even less or more) and I am very embarrased to ask them but all of them seemed very happy with what they got. As trainees we di dnot get any DIWALI BONUS, but this is totally understandable given our temporary status, the fact that it's been so short that we work here and well, the fact that Diwali is not something that has a meaning for us, but we got our Nuts Box, which is cool. After every employee got his/her present from the boss office he wwent out and in front of all of us gathered he said a small speech that basically was the highest expression of the REWARDS AND RECOGNITION strategy of my company, as I understand it ;-) Our boss said the traidtional "thank you words for being part of the company or the team" but suddenly he started saying that "as every year" it was the moment to reward thos who did an exceptional job. In this moment I got exited, I love recognitions in general! So he proceeded naming employees that had got the awards in past years and why, it was a kind of "past winners" roll call. Then he continued naming people tha this year also did a great job and that part I loved, since he named people from all levels, from the office boys (office boys are the guys that take care of minor operative work from cleaning, coffee over fotocopying, etc) over some executives. But in the end he came to the two winners! This year were two ladies, one was the general secretary and the other was a marketing executive, we all clapped and stuff, was nice! But the nices was the extra CASH that thay got! These two ladies got again in fron of all another envelop of money, Again how much it was, no clue! For me was too interesting to see how informal and simple Rewards work in my company: "you did it better than other, here is your extra money and have the others being a witness of it". All these happened in 15 minutes. It was truly interesting and nice to experience.
Finally the celebration ended ina restaurant, where our boss sponsored the lunch. Again nice to see him seated together with office boys, sharing the same table. I mean, I sai that, since generally (not in my company, but everywhere) people keep a lot of distance to others from lower levels and seing that was a proof that Diwali is such a wonderful tiem where people acknowledge loyalty and friendship. Of course I ate as a pig ;-) Photos here, photos there that ended with a team picture inf ront of teh restaurant. As if if has not been enough, back in the office our boss ordered ICE - CREAM for us. Come on it was nice ... it was so simple that was so incredible nice at the same time.
I owe you pictures, will share when I come back. But I just wanted to capture my fresh memories of this day and wich you all a HAPPY DIWALI! See you soon!
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