Unique Ritual: Pelting Stones to Appease Goddess

Shimla – A day after the festival of lights, a unique stone pelting fair was organised Saturday as part of an annual ritual in the former princely state of Dhami in Himachal Pradesh.

In local parlance it is known as ‘pattharon ka mela’ (fair of stones). During the fair, male adults gathered in a ground and pelted each other with small stones in Dhami village, some 40 km from Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla.

‘More than 500 people gathered in the village this (Saturday) noon for the ritual. People who got injured and bled, smeared the forehead of Goddess Kali (a deity in a temple) with their blood,’ fair organiser Jagdeep Singh told IANS. Read More................Unique Himachal ritual: Pelting stones to appease goddess

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Where Diwali is celebrated with cane fights!

LUCKNOW: As Diwali morning dawned Friday, young men armed themselves with 'lathis', waving the canes in the air and charging at their opponents. No, this wasn't a fight - but just how the festival is celebrated in Uttar Pradesh's Banda district. Read more........Where Diwali is celebrated with cane fights!

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30 injured in Diwali 'war'

At least 30 people were injured during the traditional 'Hingot war' between two villages on the second day of Diwali festivities in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district, eyewitnesses said.

'While eyewitnesses claim that as many as 30 participants suffered burns and other injuries during the war that lasted more than two hours on Sunday, we have only 10-12 reported cases,' police said Monday. Read More................30 injured in traditional Diwali 'war'

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A stone fight every Diwali, never to the finish

Badaun (Utar Pradesh): For residents of two villages in this district, Diwali festivities are not only about fireworks, lighting lamps and distributing sweets. They celebrate the festival also by throwing stones at one another.

It's called Pattharmar Diwali, which has become a tradition for the residents of Faizganj and Behta villages in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district, 280 km from state capital Lucknow. Read More................A fight every Diwali, never to the finish

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Diwalis forever together for these twins

AMRITSAR: Mohna and Sohna are inseparable—they are conjoined twins who can’t be surgically separated because they share vital organs.

Mohna and Sohna, which means special in Punjabi, were born to a taxi driver and his wife in 2003. The couple abandoned the children and their home now is an orphanage in Amritsar.

Four years down the line they are the orphanage’s brightest spark, spoilt and love having every one at their beck and call.

“Doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi saw the children and told us that they are inoperable.

If surgery is ever tried not only will one of them will die but the other one can’t live because of the shared organs,” says Dr Inderjeet Kaur, of the Pingalwara Charitable Society, which runs the orphanage.

The children go to school in the morning and long rides on their pram in the evening. When one wants to be free of the other they have devised their own method of making their way around the complex.

They keep the orphanage’s officials on their toes and behave like individuals on their own right.

“One is quiet and the other is not. One loves to go out and the other likes being inside. Some times they fight with each other but they are joint in the shoulder so they have to accommodate one another,” says their caretaker Kanwaljit Kaur

Kanwaljit says Mohna and Sohna love Diwali—the lights lend a sparkle to their eyes and the sisters smile at each other and enjoy the crackers from a safe distance.

Mohna and Sohna are too young to realise that they will never be independent each other but till they grow up they are loving this united life.

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