Delhiwale: The Diwali charkhi stroll

This evening in Connaught Place, the Diwali lights are already turned on while there is still some daylight left

This evening in Connaught Place, the Diwali lights are already turned on while there is still some daylight left. You can see the wires from which the little bulbs hang. Soon as the daylight fades, the wires become invisible and the decorative arrangement at A Block, Inner Circle, gives the illusion of a curtain of gold hanging above its entrance arch. The upper windows of the Museum of Illusions are glowing blue behind it—see right photo.

One of the ways to mark the festival in the city

Diwali falls on Sunday. In the evenings leading up to it, Delhi’s roads jam up and the markets are super-packed. CP’s Inner Circle is one of the few places in the city where, in the thick of the festival rush, a long walk in the open, polluted air can itself be a way of celebrating the festival of lights. Buying absolutely nothing, simply looking at people and Diwali bulbs. Additionally, going round and round the Inner Circle has something of the Diwali charkhi about it, the teeny-weeny patakha that spins on the floor, scattering sparks all around.

Farther along CP’s white colonial-era colonnade, strings of light bulbs are hanging from the roof of another block, down the upper windows whole families are out, and the showroom signs, ending in little golden bunches above the pavement. A man is selling phone covers under them.

Somewhere along the walk, a “Rent a Dost” flyer is stuck on a column. It asks in bold black letters, “Aaj bhi akele aaye ho?” (Have you come alone again today?) Below is a QR code to scan for the service.

Outside Blackberrys showroom, two columns stand wrapped in Diwali lights. The columns right beside them are bare and dark. A brown dog lies at the foot of one.

Earlier in the evening, above the red Uniqlo sign, a man is seen sitting alone on the parapet— see left photo. This part of the block has yet to light up for the festival. There is anyway still a little peach in the empty sky behind the man. While the Inner Circle colonnade below him is thick with the festive crowd. May that lone man too have a happy Diwali.