Mahashivaratri

Today was the Hindu day of 'Mahashivaratri'. This is a festival celebrating Lord Shiva. A day and night of fasting occurs and offerings are given in the form of a visit to a temple with the handing of milk, flowers, fruit, and leaves and the burning of incense. Best read wikipedia for full information.
Chodu took it upon himself to give me a 'Rakhi' a hindu wristband today. It is said to give you good luck and good health. Essentially it is a red/orange coloured cotton thread wrapped round the wrist several times (a certain amount in particular, I'm not sure which). He also asked me to join him for his visit to his local temple later, which was the least I could do as he had done a good job in looking after over the last week.
After work we stopped off at the temple and Chodu handed me a bag of milk and a handful of leaves, flowers and fruit. We took our shoes off outside the temple and headed up the few steps in inside. As you walk up the steps, the smell of incense grabs hold of you, it is quite overpowering and there are leaves and flowers strewn across the floor. We queuesd to the nearest alcove where a small statuette stood in front of a model Shiva. Parents were their with their Children pouring the milk over the statuette and placing the other offerings. Many bells were hanging and being occasionally rung and in a few other enclaves were the statuettes of the other gods and the occasional Guru. Chodu and I walked around and bowed in front of everything we came to.
It was a lovely experience, especially to see the parents showing their children the rituals for the festival.

n.b.
I was sad to discover that researching up on my wristband didn't give the best news. It seems one of the terrorists was wearing one. This seems to be the biggest hits that show on a google search. It is sad for such a peaceful religion. I can only advise if you do look it up, type in 'Rakhi' instead.