Yesterday was the festival of lights and what better way to celebrate it than being in the city that celebrates it with such fervour. The buildings were outlined with strings of lights, the deep blue sky was being being illuminated with rockets breaking into sparking flowers of light and the streets were lit with lightbulbs the colours of the rainblow.
We went down from our 20th floor apartment to the 17th floor visiting one of Faye's friends for the Puja and then went down into the car park to start the festivities adding to the already noisy, illuminated environment with all the other revelers. well not before I had popped one king size "Boondi ka Laddu" into my mouth.
Well armed with a sugar high, I set about the task of lighting the "Phuljaris" and used them to set a few "Anar" and "Chakris" to excite the couple of kids hanging around. The fountain of sparkles into the air and the spinning wheel of fire on the ground were being thoroughly enjoyed the kids that had accumulated around from various apartment blocks, only taking the attention away every time a loud cracker went off in the background.
A short while later we were off to Delhi to a friends place to celebrate Diwali. By the time we got there the party was in full swing, with rockets being launched, atom bombs being set off blinding everybody and of course shattering our eardrums. Kaustubh & Preeti are the true organised Puja celebrators, if there were such a thing. Cut-to-Cut celebrations. Nothing left to the unknown. I realised this from my Pandal Hopping in Kolkata during Durga Puja.
7 pm they had started bursting crackers. we got there by 9pm. Of course it was great fun with great hospitality. Especially the two boys - Chikoo & Peeku (I hope I haven't got the names wrong. Lads forgive me or correct me if so) who were in the thick of the action. It seemed like a war campaign and we were the armoured corp. Projectile after projectile was launched into the sky and each one that exploded hundreds of feet above us in the sky brought a smile to our faces, like happy soldiers who had painstakingly worked out the co-ordinates and hit the target bang on. We carried on till we ran out of ammunition, which was just a bit past 10pm. by this time the elders (read married and boring people) had gone done in preparation for the victory feast of our campaign on the terrace. We guys did one last recce, salvaged an atom bomb and that last deafening blast was the victory dance.
We came down washed up and like veterans back from our "Tour of Duty" filled our plates with the monstrous pieces of Tandoori Chicken, Korma and Naans. The chickens here are definitely better fed than the ones in Kolkata. After dinner , while the others were eating, I kept a couple of two year olds at bay while their parents were eating. The next half an our in the room, locked with the children took the life out of me, but what a pleasure it was. I wish I was a Kindergarden teacher. It was either making them fly, or jump, or dance or even pretend to sleep and I must admit "Mothers have full time jobs, don't believe anything otherwise".
At 11pm Kaustubh was ready to head out to the Kali Badi for the Kali Puja. Like I said. Cut-to-Cut. We guys headed back home to Gurgaon. Once back. I was again amazed at the lights and couldn't help but capture a couple of more pictures.
We went down from our 20th floor apartment to the 17th floor visiting one of Faye's friends for the Puja and then went down into the car park to start the festivities adding to the already noisy, illuminated environment with all the other revelers. well not before I had popped one king size "Boondi ka Laddu" into my mouth.
Well armed with a sugar high, I set about the task of lighting the "Phuljaris" and used them to set a few "Anar" and "Chakris" to excite the couple of kids hanging around. The fountain of sparkles into the air and the spinning wheel of fire on the ground were being thoroughly enjoyed the kids that had accumulated around from various apartment blocks, only taking the attention away every time a loud cracker went off in the background.
A short while later we were off to Delhi to a friends place to celebrate Diwali. By the time we got there the party was in full swing, with rockets being launched, atom bombs being set off blinding everybody and of course shattering our eardrums. Kaustubh & Preeti are the true organised Puja celebrators, if there were such a thing. Cut-to-Cut celebrations. Nothing left to the unknown. I realised this from my Pandal Hopping in Kolkata during Durga Puja.
7 pm they had started bursting crackers. we got there by 9pm. Of course it was great fun with great hospitality. Especially the two boys - Chikoo & Peeku (I hope I haven't got the names wrong. Lads forgive me or correct me if so) who were in the thick of the action. It seemed like a war campaign and we were the armoured corp. Projectile after projectile was launched into the sky and each one that exploded hundreds of feet above us in the sky brought a smile to our faces, like happy soldiers who had painstakingly worked out the co-ordinates and hit the target bang on. We carried on till we ran out of ammunition, which was just a bit past 10pm. by this time the elders (read married and boring people) had gone done in preparation for the victory feast of our campaign on the terrace. We guys did one last recce, salvaged an atom bomb and that last deafening blast was the victory dance.
We came down washed up and like veterans back from our "Tour of Duty" filled our plates with the monstrous pieces of Tandoori Chicken, Korma and Naans. The chickens here are definitely better fed than the ones in Kolkata. After dinner , while the others were eating, I kept a couple of two year olds at bay while their parents were eating. The next half an our in the room, locked with the children took the life out of me, but what a pleasure it was. I wish I was a Kindergarden teacher. It was either making them fly, or jump, or dance or even pretend to sleep and I must admit "Mothers have full time jobs, don't believe anything otherwise".
At 11pm Kaustubh was ready to head out to the Kali Badi for the Kali Puja. Like I said. Cut-to-Cut. We guys headed back home to Gurgaon. Once back. I was again amazed at the lights and couldn't help but capture a couple of more pictures.
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