Today is Diwalli in India which is called the "Festival of Lights" a celebrations of lights and small explosive devices. The feel of it it a little like New Years with people wandering around on the streets at night combined with Fourth of July on steroids and a dash of warzone.
At night everyone goes out on the street. The buildings are all decorated with lights, lanterns, candles and flower garlands. When I asked the people at work what they were going to on the holiday they all answered... they were going to "set some crackers on fire". Initially... I thought...fire crackers. No big deal right? I was repeatedly warned to watch myself if I went out on the from the "fire crackers". Of course being an American I took this warning very lightly. Please we have the Forth of July, I am familiar with fireworks and fire crackers DON'T scare me. Well they DIDN'T scare me...
If you are imaging a fireworks holiday like we have in the states let me tell you... no not even close. In the states we have rules, and laws and limits to these things. None of which seem to apply in India. When they say the will set fire to some crackers... They don't mean some. They mean ALOT. For instance in this photo if you can see the red line come from the fire... That 10-15 foot line is just hundreds of fire crackers strung together. They just burn down and set each other off. Stand to close and bits and peices fly off and hit you in the head. Once it gets going it starts to real rock.
They also have the usual fireworks. Starbursts and rockets, etc. All of that combined with the lanterns and strands of lights make for a festive fun feel. They do have these fireworks that don't let off any light they just make a HUGE boom. It's hard describe being on a street with all these flashy fireworks going off and suddenly hearing this LOUD BOOOOM right next to you. After about an 1 hr and 1/2 of that I was starting to flinch at every flash and noise thinking that huge BOOM would be going off near me. I ended up heading back to the hotel whimpering like a little girl.
What I really feel for is the stray dogs during this. India has a ton of them and they were scared to death. You'd see a dog running breakneck down the street then 5 seconds later it would be running past you going the other way. Poor things. One tried to follow me back to the hotel.
Overall a fun holiday in short duration. It really puts the BANG in Bangalore... Ha ha. LOL
Here is just a few quick photos I will try to upload and album later.
At night everyone goes out on the street. The buildings are all decorated with lights, lanterns, candles and flower garlands. When I asked the people at work what they were going to on the holiday they all answered... they were going to "set some crackers on fire". Initially... I thought...fire crackers. No big deal right? I was repeatedly warned to watch myself if I went out on the from the "fire crackers". Of course being an American I took this warning very lightly. Please we have the Forth of July, I am familiar with fireworks and fire crackers DON'T scare me. Well they DIDN'T scare me...If you are imaging a fireworks holiday like we have in the states let me tell you... no not even close. In the states we have rules, and laws and limits to these things. None of which seem to apply in India. When they say the will set fire to some crackers... They don't mean some. They mean ALOT. For instance in this photo if you can see the red line come from the fire... That 10-15 foot line is just hundreds of fire crackers strung together. They just burn down and set each other off. Stand to close and bits and peices fly off and hit you in the head. Once it gets going it starts to real rock.
They also have the usual fireworks. Starbursts and rockets, etc. All of that combined with the lanterns and strands of lights make for a festive fun feel. They do have these fireworks that don't let off any light they just make a HUGE boom. It's hard describe being on a street with all these flashy fireworks going off and suddenly hearing this LOUD BOOOOM right next to you. After about an 1 hr and 1/2 of that I was starting to flinch at every flash and noise thinking that huge BOOM would be going off near me. I ended up heading back to the hotel whimpering like a little girl.
What I really feel for is the stray dogs during this. India has a ton of them and they were scared to death. You'd see a dog running breakneck down the street then 5 seconds later it would be running past you going the other way. Poor things. One tried to follow me back to the hotel.
Overall a fun holiday in short duration. It really puts the BANG in Bangalore... Ha ha. LOL
Here is just a few quick photos I will try to upload and album later.
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