Happy Diwali!

Last night India turned into a complete war zone. Everywhere people flock to the streets after placing candles outside their home and prayer to celebrate the Hindu new year by blowing up their eardrums with fireworks. In every alley and street, all kinds of fireworks were lighting up the sky and shaking the buildings. It is a pretty amazing spectacle to see the entire city lit up by gunpowder, and the haze of smoke that settles over it. By 11pm the air just reeked of cordite.



I was lucky enough to be invited to celebrate Diwali with the owner of the hotel I'm staying at, at his house. Once again, I have to recommend the Roop Mahal Hotel in Jaisalmer, this place is nothing but great. I spent two hours at his house drinking beer and shooting off fireworks with his family. They splurge, about the equivalent of $100 on fireworks, which is a lot in Indian terms. The funniest part is the fireworks themselves. I'm sure Indian quality control isn't very effective, so some of the firecrackers will go off almost as soon as you light them (I almost blew my eardrum out with one), and we had one of the fountain fireworks blow up unexpectedly, a piece of it's glass urn cutting one of the boys. After the fireworks I was served traditional Indian food and went back home for the night. All in all, amazing hospitality.