Diwali

I took an overnight Bus from McLeod Ganj down the mountains to Chandigarth...besides the fact I almost 'lost my cookies' from the way too fast driving of the driver I did sing some songs & play guitar with 2 young recent college grad girls from Chand....they knew 'Cats in the Cradle' & 'Hotel California' among other western pop hits...they invited me to celebrate the Diwali Festival with them there but I decided to keep going to New Delhi(plus they both smoked 'Marlboro's' & that is way too much chemical tobacco smoke for my lungs).... After a much mellower morning ride I arrived in N.Delhi & walked to the Parhaganj section(people I have met from Delhi have told me they don't go there as it is so dirty & dusty)...There are lots of locals & tourists who do stay or shop there though...I stayed there because it is cheap(150rup) & across the street from the ND Train station...
Diwali is an annual Hindu Celebration of 'Good over Evil' among other things...a 'Festival of Lights' where people light candles in homes & such....more than anything else though it is like the US 4th of July Celebration in which almost Males light FIREWORKS....LOTS of Fireworks...LOTS of Smoke & NOISE...pop-pop-pop- BOOM!!..from dusk to late at night the city sounded like a war zone...in the morning the haze from the festivities was still lingering(although the papers said the noise & air pollution was less than previous years)...the festival was to last several days but thank Krishna it appeared most everyone had lit most all of their crackers the first night....