A weird Diwali

 What should follow a different Dussera, a weird Diwali of course :) 

Diwali is a private affair for us. Well, everything is a private affair for you :) K and I are supremely un-social individuals and it goes without saying that we both enjoy keeping stuff within the four walls of the house. 

This year coincidentally we planned a lunch with a family friend of ours. We were to have them over on the day preceding Diwali. She and her husband are vegans and we really had to rake our heads to come up with a decent menu. We finally zeroed in on courgette koftas, jeera rice, carrot halwa made with oat milk and vadas for starters. Coming up with the menu was the biggest task. They were to come over on Sunday and we started prepping on Saturday evening. I had the carrot halwa and the kofta curry ready. The carrot halwa tasted like a pure disaster which had us thinking about the alternatives. The only thing that could salvage it was condensed milk. I had seen cans of vegan condensed and evaporated milk in the supermarkets. K had to make a quick trip to get things. But as it turned out, there were none to be found - guess all Indians had hoarded them to get the 'alternative' desserts right :) Disappointed K came back with vegan custard, vegan Horlicks!! And 2 cans of 'normal' condensed milk. All of them would be of no use to me.

There was an even bigger problem. Pumpki was sick. She had vomitted nearly 4 times in the interim and complained of a bad tummy ache. We thought it would settle down and continued with the plans. But around 11 at night, she was still unsettled and I had to tell our friend that we wouldnt be able to go ahead with the next day's plans. She was very understanding and totally empathised that such things were part of daily life. 

We made some calls to the medical services and they gave us an appointment for the next day to have Pumpki checked out by a doctor. She was quite poorly through out the day. The doctor reassured us that it seemed like an acute gastroenteritis infection. We were asked to continue fluids and she would be better in a couple of days. The poor girl had a lot of stomach ache and was very restless. Her vomitting had lessened but she was still not fit enough. That night she was way better which was such a welcome relief from the previous two nights where would get up either to puke or complain of a bad stomach ache. She was in pure distress. 

On the morning of Diwali, she woke up way more cheerful. She was in no position to eat or drink much but had small quantities of milk. I quickly whipped some savouries and sweets for Diwali. When Pumpki was a bit better we decided to step out to the city centre so that she would get some fresh air. Also a trip to the Lego shop was a big incentive to cheer her up. We made our way to the city centre and spent much of the day strolling through the shops. Once back, she seemed much better though tired. She had her first meal of a bowl of pasta after two days which was really a big relief to us all. 

We had managed some fireworks and ended Diwali on a happy note.