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One of the many leftover packages Amy picked up from the streets near our flat. Yes, you too can be a naked baby dancing around to the explosive sounds of Divali…. (or at least you can act like one)

Well, last Saturday was Divali, and it sure was a different experience here than what I was accustomed to growing up in Trinidad. Amy described it as seeming like Christmas, New Years, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. There was lots of gift giving, stores staying open for extended hours, “Divali Sales,” and so on…. And then, of course, there are the firecrackers and fireworks.

Now, before I go any further, let me say what I remember of Divali in Trinidad. I remember always having to write stories or poems for my composition classes about “good over evil” or “light over darkness” or the goddess Lakshmi or lighting the way for Rama’s return to Ayodhya. I remember making misshapen deyas at school. And I remember a proper cleaning of our house and our yard, and the subsequent elaborate arches and Oms we would construct out of split bamboo. I remember spending hours putting mud on each bamboo joint to make a level resting spot for the hundreds of deyas that would soon adorn them. I remember placing a deya at every doorway to welcome Lakshmi into our house. And I remember making cannons out of the thickest bamboo trunk we could find. And I remember how we’d chalk out stars and other elaborate patterns on the asphalt and line them with deyas. And I remember having an assortment of sparklers to play with. And in the end, I remember studding our pockets with cotton wicks, and walking around the neighborhood with a candle to make sure all the deyas remained lit. It’s really something to see….

So, when Divali was approaching over here, I was pretty excited. I thought, “Hey, it’s going to be interesting to see how it’s celebrated here in India itself.” And all I can say is “Well, that’s quite different.”

Divali night was a mass of random explosions all over the city. Cars had to dodge firecrackers and fireworks in the streets too… As if driving in India is not hectic enough!

For the past couple of days, there have been firecracker explosions at all hours of the day. As it got closer to Divali, it left the realm of being just firecrackers to being actual fireworks. Yes. The kinds you see at Fourth of July celebrations or on New Years Eve. Only, instead of being professionally shot off in a controlled environment, they were being launched from rooftops all around the city in rapid succession…. It almost seemed like different parts of the city were vying for attention. Walking around the city sounded like what you’d expect in a battle scene in a war movie. Smaller strings of firecrackers sounded like machine guns, and larger firecrackers and fireworks made building-shaking booms from all directions….

As for what else goes on? Well, people give gifts to each other—my work, for example, gave out these huge boxes of Indian sweets to everyone the day before Divali. The day before Divali a lot of stores were also open until midnight or so to let people do last minute gift shopping. I guess families got together and ate and so on for Divali itself, but I’m not too sure what that all entails…. Still, it was pretty fun.

Our entire driveway was a mass of exploded firecracker wrappers….

Anyway, later in the evening of Divali, Amy and I went on a little late evening walk through the war-zone to collect discarded firecracker packages to add to our collection of random Indian trinkets to put in a display case one day…. For now, they’re just spread out on our floor in a mini “firecracker shrine” array….