Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom. I hope everyone has had a great week, perhaps the biggest disappointment this week is we got very spoiled with a sunny and warm Sunday and we have since had a cool, rainy week since then. I’m very much ready to head into that warmer weather to try to get back into walking more and just be a bit more active. That being said, I did try a couple new recipes this week so I can officially include them in my rotation, especially when I’m looking to impress. I first did some homemade potstickers (filling and wrap all from scratch) which turned out pretty amazing. Perhaps I could’ve rolled the dough out thinner, but were still tasty. Then I made my own gnocchi and those also turned out pretty amazing. Perhaps a little big and not nearly as pretty since I was using a fork to shape them, but were very tasty. So I am recommending everyone mix things up every once in awhile with a new recipe. Gnocchi was actually shockingly easy (just mashed potatoes, flour, and eggs) and can really be customized with the sauces that you use with them. Now that I’m officially hungry, why don’t I tell you what has been happening around the office so I can then grab a snack!
So nothing too crazy actually happened at the office, instead it all happened elsewhere. Intrigue! So Kelly Kapoor, our Customer Services Representative, has invited the entire office to come to the local Diwali celebration being put on at the high school. This brings up a very good question, what is Diwali? Now, Kelly seemed it a bit unclear on the precise details for the holiday aside from “it’s awesome.” And if you were to ask Michael, he would sum it up as “essentially, a Hindu Halloween.”
Diwali is known as the “festival of lights” and is actually one of the most important holidays celebrated in India, though it is celebrated around the world and is recognized by several different faiths beyond just Hinduism. In the Hindu faith, the focus of Diwali can be found in the epic, the Ramayana. During the exile of Prince Rama and his wife Sita, Sita is captured by the demon king, Ravana. Rama is ultimately able to defeat him and rescue is wife, with Diwali marking the return of Rama and Sita to their kingdom from their exile. There are other origin stories, depending on the respective faith, but the primary theme of Diwali focuses on light overcoming darkness, good defeating evil. This typically falls between October and November (hence why Michael associated it with Halloween) and for 2024 it will be celebrated on November 11.
Not only is it so great that Kelly invited the entire office, but it is so refreshing that Michael got really into doing everything possible to ensure we were thoroughly excited about going. While not every company necessarily needs to go to the extent that Michael did, it is important for companies to celebrate the diversity of their employees. The United States, it can be very easy for employees to be seen as simply another cog in the machine, and therefore they blend in with everyone else. Sure, often times many of the employees fit a very specific mold (heterosexual, cisgender, white) so those who do not fit the mold tend to get forgotten. Such as come the holiday season, there are a number of holidays besides just Christmas that happen and it is okay to take that time to acknowledge that not everyone celebrates the same holidays. These can extend to other celebratory events like Pride Month or Juneteenth; it is a blessing that people have different backgrounds and truly should be celebrated. Before this, while I had heard of Diwali I certainly did not know the story behind it. I also didn’t realize that there are several faiths that celebrate it (such as Buddhists or Sikhs) who have their own variation upon the origin story. While being careful not to treat our colleagues like token hires, it is okay to show some interest when they want to share their culture. The keyword is let them share their culture, we white people do have a habit of trying to help teach other white people about other cultures. Case in point, Michael wanted to teach us all about Indian culture by providing various pictures of Hindu gods, showing us slides of famous Indian people (both fictional and non-fictional), and then proceeded to provide us copies of the Kama Sutra. If you would like to create a presentation like this, it is wiser to have it crafted and presented by an actual representative of the culture so you do not end up trying to mansplain someone else’s culture.
Once we actually got to the school, we were able to see Diwali in full swing. There were decorations and music playing to set the mood, and plenty of lights which were in theme with the holiday. Nearly everyone was dressed in traditional attire, so that would be men in kurta’s and women in saris. There was also an impressive spread of food, all authentic Indian food, of course. I’m personally a big fan of Indian cuisine but it seems Michael was incredibly disappointed. He was eating a samosa but only because he thought they said it was a smore, so then he was confused why they couldn’t have just done served smores. I will point out how he was first very excited to celebrate Diwali to experience their culture but evidently this doesn’t extend to food. That being said, Angela was also very hesitant about it since she didn’t seem to believe them when they said it was all vegetarian. Checking online there are many different sources but there is a range varying from 20 to 40% of how much of India identifies as vegetarian. Regardless, this is a pretty impressive percentage of the population.
Food aside, it was pretty fun getting to hear about some of the interactions going on at the event. With Kelly and Ryan having been dating for awhile, her family made a point to stop and talk to him. Kelly’s sisters were teasing him because he looks like Zach Braff, while her parents were pretty obviously trying to figure out his intentions with their daughter. And then Michael made his way over to talk to them, and it seemed to get pretty serious and I think they truly inspired Michael. So much so, that shortly after that he found his way on stage and professed his love for Carol (whom accompanied him as his date, and was wearing a cheerleader outfit, for some reason) and ultimately proposed to her. This didn’t really end well, however, because she quickly pulled him away and they stepped out of the room and didn’t return. Not to be unromantic but I am a firm opponent of public proposals for exactly these sorts of situations. What if they are not there yet? Additionally, many of us just do not want to be included with your special moment, so please just keep these situations for just the two of you. The rest of the evening sort of wrapped up from there but as far as my first Diwali celebration could go, I was quite impressed.
And that was today’s breakdown! So what could we walk with remembering today? Celebrate diversity in the workplace, we are all different and it is okay and beneficial to take the time to recognize that. Second, do not propose to people in public locations especially when you have only been on less than a dozen dates. It really is not that romantic, and I find it like you are trying to make the whole situation about yourself when there are plenty of people around you who really do not care. Be diverse and do not be obnoxious, these are truly words to live by.
I’m hoping for some warm weather this weekend, and in the mean time why doesn’t everyone please include a comment below on your own suggestions for how can an office or company celebrate their diversity without coming off as white people trying to mansplain diversity or “brag” about having people of color. Until next time, I’ll be sure to see you around the Breakroom!
- Kaur, H. (2023, November 11). What to know about Diwali, the Festival of Lights. CNN Travel. Retrieved May 16, 2024, from https://www.cnn.com/travel/diwali-festival-of-lights-explained-cec/index.html32 ↩︎
