I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part XIV - An Evening Of Thanksgiving...

We're soon going to be completing 3 months in Songdo - these 3 months have been extremely trying but enriching at the same time. 

Most of the times, we have been pleasantly surprised by what lay ahead of us, just around the corner. And we have got to interact with people from all around the world - in a sense Songdo is a microcosm of the "shrinking world".

And then we were invited by our Peruvian-American friend to join him in celebrating the American festival of Thanksgiving. And we enthusiastically agreed - not only would we get accustomed to the festivities in the United States, but this would, in a sense, be our thanksgiving to Songdo, for not only surviving here but also for the intangible enriching experiences that we got here, in Korea, in the last 3 months...

My first introduction to the Thanksgiving celebrations happened as a kid - I was always a history buff. And I had a soft spot for American history - the migration from Europe to the New World, the American War of Independence, the Civil War leading up to modern United States. One of the books that my parents bought for me from a local bookshop was on the early settlers in New England - a Ladybird book called The Pilgrim's Progress!

The book explained the challenges the settlers faced in New England in the 1600s, described how they overcame the challenges and how they celebrated the their first harvest in the new land with a feast, shared with a local tribe - the Wampanoags. 

In short, the story goes as follows: English separatists or the Pilgrims, as they were called, who arrived at Plymouth Rock onboard the ship, Mayflower. The settlers did not have enough food to survive. The native Wampanoag tribe helped them adapt to the new environment and get settled. They gave the Pilgrims seeds and taught them how to fish. And after a particularly good harvest, the Pilgrims had a three-day feast, which they shared with the Wampanoag people. It is believed that the food served at this feast was all local produce - turkey with stuffing, seafood and fall vegetables like corn and squash. This was the origin of the modern Thanksgiving feast, which was formalised by Abraham Lincoln after the Civil War. 

Today, Thanksgiving is one of the biggest festivals in the United States, commemorating the fall harvest and kicking off the holiday season with a feast to acknowledge our gratitude for bounties of nature that all Americans can enjoy.

The bounties of fall with mandarins from Jeju...

And the good stuff - food. This lovely colourful salad was our contribution to the feast...

Cranberry sauce to go with the turkey...

Some more salad...

Dinner rolls...

The good stuff - roast turkey with crispy skin!

Creamed green beans...

Creamy mashed potatoes with dill...

Bright mandarins...

There goes the Thanksgiving trivia quiz...

And finally Nirvana - a delectable meal to celebrate our Thanksgiving to Korea for making us feel at home!

A Bollywood Evening In Seoul...

There is never a better place to witness the tremendous soft power that India enjoys than to see foreigners enjoy Indian cuisine or sway to Bollywood tunes. Yesterday, we were witness to this.

We headed to Seoul to attend the annual Indian Ball - a fundraiser held after Diwali that brings together Koreans, Indians and other expatriates to join in for the festivities.

The evening began with performances by artists to the tunes of Bollywood numbers...

The menu for the night...

The starters were quite tempting...

Witnessing the performances...

She claimed to have performed for the reality show, Bigg Boss, back home in India...

Getting the audience to shake a leg...

"Make In India" was the theme of the night - Prime Minister Modi's magic is infectiously all pervasive!

There is my lovely thali...

The Americans around us were enjoying the Bollywood overdose...

Luckily, an overdose of Bollywood doesn't kill...

Jalebi, rabdi with rose petals...

Now the audience gets to shake a leg...

It was particularly pleasing to see foreigners enjoying every bit of it...

And especially Koreans going beyond K-pop and enjoying Bollywood bhangra hits in traditional Hanbok attire (see the video at 00:27)!!!!

Indeed, India's soft power was in full flow...

The Magical Flame Of Diwali, In An Alien Land...

Today, it was our first Diwali in Korea, an alien land, that we have began calling home, for the next few years.

The contrast with India was vivid. Back home, everything comes to a standstill, a few days before Diwali. Markets are decked up, there is a frenzy to clean up homes, buy new clothes and prepare for the festival. 

It felt a little odd that there was no festivity here.And yes, it was a working day today. It was a bit depressing to get up early and head to office instead of preparing for the festival. Diwali messages from India really rubbed it in - I felt alone, really alone in an alien land, away from friends and family and the conviviality that comes alongwith a day like this... 

But it is Diwali, I just couldn't feel low. I pushed myself, adding a spring in each step and went about my day.

And in the evening, perked up by Neeti's chirpiness, we cooked up a delicious meal - stuffed capsicum and maa ki daal!

We did our puja, welcoming Goddess Lakshmi in our new abode in Songdo!

And lit up the magical flame of Diwali, ushering in a new beginning...

After lighting up home, it was time to have dinner and dessert - atte ka halwa that Neeti had made. Indeed that was the best halwa I had eaten in ages...

Then came the biggest fun-filled surprise - meeting local Indians for lighting up some fireworks, as we do back home in India. Indeed life is all about creating a home wherever one lives and building new relationships - that's the message the magical flame of our first Diwali in Korea brought us...