Diwali was in Delhi, with everyone coming down to be at one place. Shikha's b'day also coincided with Diwali this time around - it was sad to be speaking to her only on phone across thousands of miles.
It was all very hectic with my leaves starting on the 19th. The fun part was driving around to everyone's houses, giving gifts across town (yeah, Delhi is high on Diwali gifting - dont be surprised if your gift comes back to you through someone else!) and stopping at random places for chaat and last minute shopping.
On the night before Diwali, we got so late returning that we just had time to get food packed from a Gol Market shop and had it on the tables outside Kaleva at around 1 in the night. Then passing through Karol Bagh meant that the ladies HAD to stop for buying random Diwali stuff - even at 130am. So I remained in the car and indulged in some monochromatic and voyeuristic photography across the street:
The chaotic randomness of Diwali shopping expressed through the cluttered pic
Waiting for the last business before he can wrap up and be free
The Diwali day was pretty much relaxed - most of the cleaning had been done and we went to my sister's place for lunch. I made kachoris for everyone (Shikha, are you listening? hehe), caught up bigtime with nephew-niece and indulged in some maniacal driving back home to escape the Diwali traffic which was just about to start.
Home meant an elaborate Diwali pooja and the best part - putting Diyas out everywhere
Vani was given the responsibility of lighting the first few Diyas
Trying to protect the fire against the wind proved to be a full-time job for the little baby of our family
Though we were pretty much against bursting any firecrackers, having little kids meant that they couldnt be deprived of the experience and soon all the males were busy with all kinds of firecrackers - with kids watching from the sidelines...lol, I love it how the adults corner everything that is even remotely fun:
Playing with fire...can be a lot of fun
More relatives trickled in and soon we had a rocking firecracker session
Chakris - my personal favorite
Experimentation with Fuljhadis
Returned on the day after Diwali and while all of Bombay is still getting over from its holiday hangover, I'm running against time to finish of work before the travels start in November - dont feel like doing any work though - Nariman Point is SO quite and calm, its almost unbelievable - tomorrow all the worker ants will be back, making the engines of the economy trundle again.
1 comments:
Belated Happy Diwali, Raccoon :-) This made lovely reading!
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