The nicest time of year to be in Delhi is finally upon us. With that in mind, here’s something I wrote around the same time last year.
I got my first taste of this year’s festive season walking out of Vasant Vihar’s Basant Lok market a few weeks back, right around Dussehra time. The market, despite being well past its glory days of TGIF and Priya Cinema, was adorned with strings of brightly coloured lights, waiting to be lit up as soon as evening fell.
There’s something about October and November in Delhi. There’s excitement and festivities and lights in the air (and on people’s houses). It’s not just the weeks of card parties and colourful, new clothes leading up to Diwali, but also the start of the wedding season. It’s not just one Diwali mela after another, full of chaat, jalebi and shopping, but also the sudden turn of weather, when Delhi’s relentless heat becomes more forgiving after all those months, and people want to be outdoors again. It’s the time of year when my brother, in small town North Carolina, and countless other Delhiites in various parts of the world, miss Delhi the most.
The few weeks leading up to Diwali are undoubtedly the nicest time of the year in this city full of extremes, where it’s almost always either too hot or too cold. Spring, the other in between, goes by far too quickly without you really even noticing it, culminating in the season that is dreaded the most. This season, on the other hand, is awaited with anticipation, as people eagerly count down the days for summer to end. Air-conditioners turn off, geysers come on, and the ‘October Breeze’ that inspired my brother’s first song finally emerges.
In the spate of Diwali parties that follow, every evening offers a new reason to dress up and go to someone’s house. During the day, markets are full of shoppers buying anything from Diwali gifts for friends and distant relatives to new clothes and jewelry for themselves. Shops remain open longer than usual, and there’s a hustle and bustle in the air. At night, it never really gets dark as almost every house is decked up with strings of lights, some gaudy and others tastefully subtle. The air is full of loud sounds and the pungent smell of smoke that follows firecrackers; I grin to myself and the crowd of boys responsible for the latest cracker as I smell the smoke that, at any other time of year, I would wrinkle my nose at. The feelings associated with firecrackers cause me to enjoy even the acrid smell of smoke.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s also a downside to this season. Everyone wanting to be outdoors results in literally that – the streets are choked with cars, with people in a desperate rush to reach a store to buy something or someone’s house to deliver gifts. A distance that usually takes an hour takes two, sometimes even longer. More often than not, shops are sold out of whatever it is that you wanted because of the sheer volume of shoppers. And of course, air and noise pollution reaches new levels.
Despite all this, most people go about their Diwali preparations with celebration and excitement. A few traffic jams aren’t nearly enough to bring us down at this time of year.
5 thoughts on “October Breeze”