Fyi, today is the Indian Harvest Festival (Ponggal). It is significant due to the large agricultural sector in India, and thou it isnt directly relevant to Sg, Indians here still celebrate it.
The big thing about this festival is that it is supposed to herald hope. The 3 days of it are dedicated to 3 things: Thanks to Sun, thanks to cow and hope for singles. Sun for sunlight that is essential for farming, cow for all its hard work in farming and supplying milk, and it is supposed to be the time of hope when singles start getting marriage proposals.
This used to be a very, very big thing for my family in the past. It was the only other time (apart from Deepavali) when everyone in the extended family gathered, cos we doubled it as a time for offering prayers to our ancestors (sorta like the Indian Qing Ming, thou i dunno how it was rationalised). This was on the second day, when we could be non-vegetarians . On the 1st day, we were vegetarian and my sis used to cook 9 (!) side dishes to represent the 9 flavours of Indian cuisine. I miss those days.
Nowadays, none of it matters. Hope isnt so big in my life at the moment.
On an unrelated note, Affenpinscher, Lhasa Apso, Miniature Pinscher, Shih-Tzu or Yorkshire Terrier? Or maybe just a mongrel? *wink wink*