— पांच हजार आठ सौ सत्तानवे —
Yesterday was Diwali, and Shobhit was somewhat keen on observing it. This does seem to be a bit of a subtle change with him over the past several years, where he's still not especially religious, but will observe certain Hindu practices. The most significant of these is abstaining from eating eggs, which has to be done between certain sets of specific dates a few times a year. I have never understood this, and any time I try to ask him he seems incapable of finding a way to explain it. And I'm not looking for an explanation of why he observes Hindu practices at all, but rather why he did none of it at all for years, and now does some of them.
He has kind of suggested at times that it has to do with his mother, who observes a ton of these things. Shobhit has never made a shrine like his mom does, but I did learn of another bit of dietary restriction for meals on Diwali: no garlic and no onions. He was very pointed about this with
the meals he made, and these are usually staples in all of his cooking, especially onions. Anyway, his mom will be 80 years old on Thursday, and Shobhit really loves his mom, so I have a feeling this is a way to feel connected with her.
Diwali is also called the "Festival of Lights," which can include both electric lights similar to those we use for Christmas in the West, and candles. This is where the
diyas, or clay lamps come in—a traditional use for said lights. Shobhit bought a couple of
diyas at the Diwali Festival at Seattle Center in 2023; and he bought a couple more, these slightly more elaborate in design, at the festival last weekend—see the photo at the top of this post; they are also shown in the video clip below, along with a bunch of other candles we also lit in every room in the condo.
I spent a bit of time searching for a song to add to that video. I used an online AI live translator to make sure the lyrics were not off-base in a way that embarrass me as a clueless White guy without a Hindu background. They seemed fully appropriate, and when I shared the video on the WhatsApp group chat we have with Shobhit's nieces (his brother's two daughters), Shivy seemed to love it.
Shobhit also made kachoris, a deep fried pastry bread, which were easily the most delicious part of the dinner. Of course I also made chai, which I do several days a week already but felt especially appropriate last night. We sat down to eat and watched the first two episodes of season 3 of
The Diplomat, since I re-upped my subscription for one of the movies I watched with Alexia on Sunday.
Diwali is one of those holidays that can have widely varied dates; it can be in late October or into mid-November. Last year, it actually fell on Halloween. Shobhit's birthday is October 30, and the last time Diwali landed on that date was 2016. (It won't happen again until 2035.) That was the last year Shobhit lived in Los Angeles, and we didn't even register that it was Diwali, which seems kind of wild in hindsight. We actually went to a Halloween party that day,
as Willy Wonka and a Golden Ticket. I even just checked my Halloween travelogue for that year—no mention of Diwali at all. Amazing.
In my
collection of photo albums for Diwali, the first one is of a community Diwali celebration we went to
very early on in our relationship, in 2005. But then we basically ignored it for many years: the only reason I have albums in the collection from 2013 and 2017 is because photos from Shobhit's trips to India those years overlapped with the holiday. But, ever since 2019, we've had some kind of observance every year except 2021, and I couldn't tell you why we ignored it that year, when it landed on November 4—Shobhit did not work that evening, and I just went to a movie. I think we're much more conscientously leaning into it now though.
The annual festival at Seattle Center kind of helps, even though we didn't go last year. I invited Karen to go with us the year before, and she did; I plan to mark my calendar to see if she wants to go again next year, just because I found the whole thing so much more impressive this year. I can only hope it's as cool next year, when it will land on Sunday, November 8. Landing on the weekend, and with the Diwali Festival usually being held on a Saturday, I bet Seattle will do the festical November 7.
Diwali's date varies so much because, like Easter, it's timing is tied to the phases of the moon. It lands on the new moon in the Hindu lunar month of Ashvina. This makes sense as the "Festival of Lights" occurs on the darkest night of the month. This also means Diwali can happen as early as October 17 or as late as November 14. Shobhit's mom's birthday is just a week before his, on October 23, so Diwali can just as easily land on her birthday—it last happened in 2014 (when Shobhit's mom turned 69), and I cannot find a year on which it will happen again. I just Googled it for every single year through 2066 (when I would be 90, if still alive) and none of them had Diwali falling on October 23. It would appear Shashi Ji will never see a Diwali birthday again. Shobhit will, though.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ सत्तानवे —
— पांच हजार आठ सौ सत्तानवे —
Anyway! We also watched a third episode of
The Diplomat, but we took about an hour break between the second and third, for two reasons. First, I wanted to post some of the evening's photos—and the video you see below—to acknowledg Diwali. And second, because Shobhit got some incredibly exciting acting news.
He got the lead part in a play! It's called
The Foreigner, and the performances will be in March. The one minor catch is how far away it is: this will be in Olympia, at the State Theater downtown, run by
Harlequin Productions. It'll run
March 6 through March 29. He'll even get paid for it!
He drove down to Olympia to audition for this on Sunday night. Talk about it being worth the effort! I love this for him so much, I'm thrilled. He did tell me he had a feeling from his audition that he might get it, but I didn't put to much stock in it—not to say that I didn't have faith in him, but I know all too well the nature of getting hopes up about one out of a constant line of auditions. He got an email while we were watching
The Diplomat, though, and he showed it to me: the first word I noticed was OFFER.
This is going to involve a lot of driving, of course, or maybe he'll even try to find a place to stay sometimes. There will be lots of rehearsals to schedule before performances start. It occurred to me just as I was writing this paragraph that perhaps I can ride with him and get a few extra visits to Olympia in. Why not? January and February are relatively slow months, after all. I sure hope I can get some family to go see it. I have no idea how much tickets will be, but I just looked up their current production and General Admission price is $48. Damn. Well, that's live theater for you—even regional live theater. I mean, it's dirt cheap compared to Broadway, but pricy for local theatre in my opinion. Hopefully it means they do high quality work.
Side note: Shobhit got me a ticket to accompany him again to the Gregory Awards, which is our regional version of the Tony Awards (celebrating live theater), on Monday next week. And you know what this means? Shobhit will qualify for a Gregory Award nomination in 2026! I'm not saying it will happen, I'm only saying he'll be eligible. It would be pretty amazing though.
This is just so, so awesome—the best acting gig Shobhit has had since returning from L.A. in 2016. And actually, come to think of it, this will be his most significant local acting gig ever. He was in plenty of plays before he left for New York in 2016, but he was never the lead of a full-length play at a city's major live theater, for which he got
paid. He may even become a member of Actors Equity.
Between this and our trip to Amsterdam in 2026, next year is shaping up to be a year to be quite unusually excited about.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ सत्तानवे —
[posted 12:33pm]
