Happy Deepavali!!

Ah, the smell of fresh crackers and the continuous sounds that pervade the skies on this day. It is once again, that time of the year in India. The festival of lights (and sounds) that gives the country a visual spectacle so beautiful and enchanting that I could look at it forever. My grandmother says people used to start celebrating at least a month before in the olden days.  

Deepavali this year started creeping back into the city about a week ago with the occasional 100-wala. People stocked up their boxes of fireworks, the sweet shops were operating in full swing and students began discussing their plans for the upcoming week with friends.

Today is the actual day of the festival and it just feels so brilliant. From around 6 pm onwards the display of fireworks began accompanied by the slightly delayed booms and cracks. You can literally see the light flash first in front of your eyes and the hear the sound a moment later. Even today morning, I had forgotten how festive it felt, how beautiful the fireworks looked and how happy it would make me feel.

At home, we have heaps of sweets and savories made to perfection. Friends and family wished us the customary ‘Happy Diwali’.

Although the amount of smoke and mist that arrived has been sitting in the back of my mind all day, the visual beauty of the fireworks is simply amazing. I did not light any crackers today, although there is a whole lot of fun in that, just watching them flooded me with excitement and happiness and feelings of festivity that I haven’t experienced in so long.

Keeping happiness aside however, our pollution levels are still increasing and I hope we still find ways to celebrate this with such splendor every year, without damaging the environment.

It’s nearly eleven now, and the distant booms of fireworks are still abundant tonight.

And I already look forward to possibly bursting ‘green’ crackers next year and celebrating this amazing festival that gives so many of us joy.

As always, Happy Deepavali!