HOUSTON, TEXAS, November 10, 2015 (Houston Chronicle): For most of his life, Pratik Sharma, not yet a teen when his family left Pakistan in 2012, celebrated Diwali in a quiet, contemplative way. This year, the focus on family and the ultimate triumph of good over evil remained, but the effervescent Houston middle schooler busted loose. He tasted the color – and the confections – of one of the liveliest and significant holidays on the Hindu religious calendar. At a fair hosted by his family’s temple, the Arya Samaj Greater Houston, Pratik, 15, and his brother, Taij, 13, prowled the stalls purveying sweets and spicy treats and tried their luck at games of skill.
Diwali, said Harish Chandra, an Arya Samaj priest, will reach its peak today, with the advent of the new moon. Celebrations will continue through Saturday, when Stafford’s BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir will host as many as 8,000 Houston-area Hindus for an evening of worship and celebration.
Vijay Pallod, spokesman for Hindus of Greater Houston, said Diwali is “the one festival all Hindus celebrate – north, south, east, west.” The Houston metro area, he said, is home to about 125,000 Hindus. It is not uncommon in Houston’s heavily immigrant neighborhoods for Hindu families to share their surplus of food and goodwill with Christian and Muslim neighbors. Muslims, he said, often reciprocate by sharing the bounty of their tables at Eid.