Divali & Ramzan

I just looove this time of the year! It’s the season of Divali and Ramzan. But sadly in Bombay there doesn’t seem to be a festive atmosphere anywhere! All I saw were a few shops and homes lit with a few desultory lights. Or may be I’m just too much into my college work and internship duties. :(
I miss Hyderabad so much right now. At this time of the year the air is crisp and cold and the streets of Hyderabad are suffused with a festive spirit. All the shops are lit up with colourful, twinkling lights arranged in all kinds of shapes and designs; the jewelry shops are decked with garlands of flowers in the most amazing designs!
All the little cafés are filled with people savouring the delicacies that Ramzan has to offer – haleem, hareesh, paya, kheer etc etc. And this is not limited to only Muslims; Hindus, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs; everyone who is basically a non-vegetarian has a great time in relishing all this lovely food.
The old city looks even more beautiful, the Charminar is beautifully lit as people throng there to buy clothes, accessories from the famous “choodi bazaar” and to of course gorge on all the marvelous food!

During Divali and Ramzan, Hyderabad truly gets transformed in to a fairy town! Everything just looks so beautiful! The Public Gardens buildings are also lit up beautifully!
And at this time the best thing to do is to go to the Golcunda Fort to watch the light and sound show. It really takes you back to the olden times, and you can imagine so clearly what all had taken place so very long ago! The partly animated movie, “Bhagmati” is based on the love story of prince Mohd.Quli Qutub Shah, the fourth Qutub Shahi ruler, and Bhagmati, a court dancer.
That brings us to the Qutub Shahi tombs. These tombs have some lovely architectural qualities (By the way, the climax of “Mohra” plus the song “main cheez badi hoon mast mast” has been shot at the Qutub Shahi tombs. The maze like place where Naseeruddin Shah beats up Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty is a place that we kids used to love to go to, whenever we went there for picnics.) These tombs are also are lit up in muted colours.
This year I thought I would not be able to go down to Hyderabad to celebrate Divali with my family, as I’ve still not completed my internship. And I was terribly depressed because of that. I couldn’t believe that I would not be able to participate in the pooja, or go for a long midnight drive, watching all the rockets burst in to iridescent showers of light…
Of course, it all just boils down to having a great time with family and friends! And now I’m just so glad that I’ll be able to go down at least this year to be there with my family. Who knows where I’ll be next year. But at present I’m the happiest girl on this planet! Hyderabad, here I come! :D

I’ll be gone for a week, so I won’t be able to blog or blog hop for a while now. :(

HAPPY DIVALI AND EID MUBARAK TO EVERYONE!!