Diwali

Dipavali, commonly known as Diwali, is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual victory of Dharma over Adharma, light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. Diwali is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar months of Ashvin (according to the amanta tradition) and Kārtika – between around mid-October and mid-November. The celebrations generally last five or six days.

I have been celebrating Diwali for as long as I remember, with my family. As a child, the festival meant good food & fireworks. It also meant people would visit our houses with sweets and dry fruit boxes. Then we would recycle the boxes and gift them to others when we visit their houses. Special care needs to be taken not to give the same boxes back to the same people. Overall a net-zero exercise.

Growing up, I realised the environmental impact of this festival and eventually gave up fireworks. Still, her are some photos of the celebrations I took over the years in Gurgaon.

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These are photos from DLF Phase 2, where we stayed during our early years there.

Some photos from Sector 22, where we lived next.

On the days preceding Dushehra, there are Ramlila performances throughout the city. Below are some photos from DLF Cyber Hub one of these years.

When we moved to Sector 33 and then Sector 47, we also came across the concept of having Diwali Mela in our apartment complex.