Diwali in Delhi

Friday 5th November 2010 was Diwali in India. This is the Festival of Lights and is held in honour of the goddess Lakshmi. Although I have been to India several times, this was my first experience of Diwali. It was out of this world.


The preparations begin weeks in advance. In an earlier posting I wrote about attending Ram Lila, in mid-October. By late October people begin hanging festive lights on the outside of their houses and lighting little oil lamps at their doorstep. Houses are whitewashed and festive messages painted or hung on the walls. Gifts are exchanged. So it’s a lot like a western Christmas, except that being in India, it is a hundred times louder, brighter, noisier, dirtier, more fun and involves millions more people.


On the actual night of Diwali, millions of people (this is not hyperbole, I really mean millions of people) begin to let off fireworks as soon as the sun sets. This goes on unabated until well after midnight. The noise is deafening. Think of Guy Fawkes night or Queen’s Birthday or 4th of July, and multiply that by 100. The sky is constantly filled with exploding rockets and the air is totally full of the sound of explosions and the smell of gunpowder.

My flatmates and I had a meal together then just wandered around our neighbourhood in Vasant Kunj, admiring the thousands of fireworks going off hour after hour. I’ve included some photos but they really don’t capture the sheer volume of noise and light. It was awesome.

When we got back to our flat, we found that the entire flat was filled with smoke. Not from anything we had done, but just from seeping through the cracks in the walls and around the windows. This might give an idea how dense the air was outside.

So the Indian festival season starts with Navratna (the nine days when Ram Lila is performed), goes on to Diwali (5th November) then there is Nehru’s Birthday or Children’s Day on 14th November, the birthday of Guru Nanak (founder of the Sikh religion) on 16th November, Muslim Eid on 17th November and then a few more until Christmas Day on 25th December. If you can only visit India once in your life, make sure that you do in the festive season!