The Diwali Border

This video reminds us of the Diwali "mexican stand-off" whenever there's only one cupcake left at morning tea.

Lucky they're only armed with swords…or are they?

Have a great break from everyone at the Diwali Blog.

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Diwali Greeting Cards

The Queen Victoria Building (QVB) is a majestic structure located in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. The shop façade’s are fastidiously kept so as to maintain the look & feel of this building's heritage. Visitors to the QVB are normally international travelers particularly during the festival of Diwali.

Many years ago my family owned and operated one of the shops on the top level of the QVB. We where lucky enough to encounter and sometimes befriend people from all four corners of the planet.

We would note with curious interest the ebb and flow of nationalities and wonder at the circumstances influencing the rise (or fall) in visitor numbers from particular countries. Some visitor nationalities where always a constant such as the Japanese, American’s and New Zealanders’. Other’s where sporadic such as Indonesian’s, German’s, French and Brazilian’s.

We sold this business more than a decade ago however I sometimes wonder what the current trend is.

On the way to a business conference in the city recently I decided to ‘duck-in’ to the QVB for a quick look.

Times have certainly changed.

I can only imagine that the rate of exchange for the Australian dollar has had a significant impact on the number of visitors to our shores. The place was VERY quiet.

As I passed by our former shop I noticed the absence of a shop that was a favourite of mine whenever visiting the QVB.

It was a shop dedicated to Cartoon Cell’s however my interest was not in the Cell’s but the Greeting Card’s they produced once a year for Christmas.

The cards where unlike any Christmas card most people are likely to receive. They where provocative and a little bit macabre but intensely funny for those of us with a dry sense of humour.

The artist would hand draw each one hence only a limited number where available each year. I always made a point of checking their arrival every day in the months leading up to Christmas.

It gave me tremendous pleasure to send them out to friends and family as I knew most would react with indignation before ‘cracking-up’!

The phone would ring and I would be censured for a few moments and then we’d enjoy a long overdue chat.

And so it is with Diwali or at least should be. The year sometimes passes without annotations and we neglect to maintain contact with friends and family. All it takes is a greeting card to renew past connections and hopefully maintain them.

So put pen to paper (or cardboard) and surprise someone you know and want to keep knowing.

Use the Force Junior

The Diwali Network is busy debating the important things in life as they do every Friday.

Today's topic of debate is:

What is it about Darth Vader that's so enduring?

I think it's the cape.

What do you think?

Diwali greetings from us all.

Diwali Gifts – What to get your Mother in Law

Gifts and gift giving during Diwali is a tricky business in some situations. None more so than when it is for the in-laws aka out-laws.

The moment you turn your thoughts to buying them a gift that will hopefully be considered worthy is the moment that doubt floods your conscious awareness.

Remembering that, if you buy something very expensive, they may presume that you’re being flippant or possibly wasteful with your family’s money.

If you buy something cheap will they take this to mean that this equates to how you value them.

Or worse still a gift voucher. Oops.

In my humble opinion the ideal gift is More Of The Same.

If your in-law collects scented candles then add to that collection. If they appreciate botanical miniatures then migrate to the local garden centre. If they enjoy camping in the kitchen then proffer more pots and pans.

More importantly avoid overdoing the gift. If they collect modest art I would suggest resisting the urge to gift the Mona Lisa.

And, if they insist that the best gift they’ve received was their grandchildren then the two of you’d better get cracking!

This type of gift giving is also a measure of your interest in them. You would need to invest some time understanding exactly ‘who’ your in-laws are and what they appreciate. You may even discover that it becomes a two-way street.

Overall a well-selected gift during Diwali can shape the family dynamics for the remainder of the year if not forever. Not because of the gift or it’s value but because it’s a gesture of understanding and openness.

It is conceivable that a gift card with a few simple words telling your in-law how much you appreciate them and the gift of their offspring would traverse most emotional voids.

It may seem that all your efforts are sometimes unnoticed but ultimately any effort is always better than none at all.

Abandon doubt and don your investigative cap before Diwali. What exactly do they like…More Of The Same!

Diwali Net on a Friday afternoon

It seems that the Diwali Network has developed a Friday "Funnies" dependency.

This little Gem was presented to me only minutes ago.

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The question is, are they trying to tell me something?

Have a great weekend from all of us at Diwali Network.

Shower Gel

There's a lot of shenanigans here at the Diwali Net offices late Friday afternoons

This is what the office have been watching since lunchtime

Should I still pay them