Diwali in Hyderabad

Lighting the diyas and firecrackers, eating delicious food and the family gatherings, this is what we enjoyed most about Deepavali this year. We spent the holiday in Hyderabad at my inlaw’s home. This is the first Deepavali we spent with relatives as we were in Rajasthan our first year and Malaysia last year. Even this year, we visited Rajahmundry and the stunningly scenic nearby areas along the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh and arrived in Hyderabad on Deepavali day. We spent the morning relaxing and meeting our relatives and buying firecrackers. The streets were festive with vendors selling mango leaves, flowers, fire crackers, diyas and other items for Lakhmi puja. I particularly liked the colourful clay pots and dolls that were sold; I had never seen those before in Bangalore and was told it is a local Hyderabad custom to pray with the clay pots and to put up doll displays during the festival. In the evening, we lit diyas and hung electric lights outside our home. We changed from our Indian saris, kurtas and kurtis to more comfortable clothing in preparation for the evening fun. In the Godavari area, we didn’t see many firecrackers being lit before Deepavali, this could be because there was flooding in the area and a cyclone warning so perhaps people were cautious and preparing for the hardship ahead. In Hyderabad, people were lighting their firecrackers from dawn to dusk days ahead of Deepavali and days afterwards although I am told that when Prasad was young, people lit far more firecrackers than they do now primarily because of the cost and hopefully because people are more environmentally conscious. Although I felt a bit guilty about contributing to the pollution, I wanted S&R to finally have a “real” Deepavali so we purchased enough to last over an hour. S &R started off slow with sparklers but eventually gained confidence to light up the turning wheels and flower pots. The rockets are scary, I was worried one of us would get injured.  One of Sindhu's friend's arms got burnt this year when she was lighting the spinning fire cracker, what a horrible experience to go through, her arm and some part of her leg is bandaged now. I remember our first year here, Rushil was afraid of the loud sounds and blasts but he seems oblivious to it now.  Our evening ended with an elaborate meal which included plenty of ghee laden sweets.  Although experiencing Diwali with friends in Bangalore would have been fun, spending it with family will be a memory that I hope that children will have for years to come.
 

 The gang  - Prasad's  parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and my mother

Psychedelic picture because of all the diyas, lights and firecrackers

 Prasad's mother's sister and sister-in-law

 Lighting flower pots

 Lighting the chakra style cracker, always a bit scary as they are unpredictable.

 My mom joining in on the fun.

 Chappati making - Sindhu suddenly took interest in it, had to capture the moment.

Experimenting with the camera