Some tears, some joy...
Arafat is dead.
It is an irreplaceable loss. And I don't care what the rest of the world thinks.
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After a long time, I actually enjoyed a train journey home. As the train moved from suburb to suburb, it seemed as if the whole world was suddenly celebrating something. Every building was gloriously lit up, some even decorating terraces in order to stand out from the crowd. There were fireworks all along the way to keep the train company - glorious lights, mysteriously breaking into a thousand stars and then disappearing into nowhere. It was lovely watching fireworks blaze into the sky, narrowly missing planes at Santacruz, shooting into stars over clear skies at Kandivili. At Diwali, the city gets transformed magically, especially at night, into a sort of mini-fairyland; lights all over, celebrations, diyas, sweets..everybody seems so happy. One only wishes that it were true.
And that this lasts.
One can almost forgive the noise in order to experience the lights.
Diwali this year was special. First observation, noise levels were down. Not many Laxmi and Rassi bombs, that
ReplyDeleteseared your ear drums.
Second observation, smoke levels were highest, weather was hot and humid. It also rained.
Third observation. Exotica fireworks. This Diwali was Chinese. (since all exotic firecrackers come from China)
Conclusion: Henceforth all Diwalis will be Chinese.
Hey Ray. I guess different suburbs of this crazy city had different Diwali's!! On the northern end, where I am,it was a little noisier than where you are. Lucky you, I guess! At one point, I even contemplated calling the cops around 1 am last night. (Here goes another series of crackers, as I write. And it's almost 11.50 pm now. Sigh. But it's not SO horrendous up on the 6th floor. Thank God for small mercies)
ReplyDeleteAnd it rained, did it? No sign of it this side! The only thing that poured was sweat - the weather's taken a turn for the worse the last couple of days. One would have thought that people would stay in and be cool, but no, it's difficult to keep a MW with crackers and rassi bombs indoors!
And a Chinese Diwali! I guess so. They've taken over such a lot, so why should Festivals be spared?!
Hope you've had a good weekend and are enjoying the break (that is, if you took the weekend off!) :)