Diwali Notes : Hear and There

So a few years ago I wrote about how Diwali in Bangalore could get a little crazy and I'm glad to say that over time I've become a little smarter about this wonderful festival of ours. Despite the copious amounts of completely unhealthy smoke from the crackers, the beating that my ear drums take from the ridiculously loud explosions (they still make me feel like I am in an actual war field) and the fact that the streets are just covered with so much litter that it is difficult to walk, Diwali still has a charm that is impossible to resist and enjoy. 

So this year I stayed off the roads while people were bursting crackers and instead got myself a nice vantage point and experimented with my red Olympus camera (its not pink I tell you!) as I tried to photograph the lit up Bangalore sky in all its glory. After a few misguided attempts I managed to figure out the actual settings and sorted out the exact angles that I was looking for to get the best results. 

And this is when it all started going downhill. After ensuring that everything was just perfect I was content to sit back and let the camera work it's magic but fate cruelly conspired against me as people just stopped bursting crackers altogether every time I was about to click a picture. As a result of this I ended up with several shots of a clear (if smoggy) Bangalore sky that was completely bereft of fireworks and others of people just standing around doing nothing. 

It got worse though, not only did people stop bursting crackers when I had the camera focussed in their direction but people on different streets would then start sending up fireworks and by the time I would set up my camera there, they too would stop and take a break! And so it went on and on and I was finally about to give up when a wayward rocket burst a few feet away from me and nearly took my hearing along with it as it went up in a thick cloud of smoke. To say that I nearly jumped out of my skin would be a massive understatement.  

On the plus side, I did manage to sneak in a few good pictures though that seemed to have more to do with divine providence than my own skill. I hope you had a memorable Diwali as well. Just don't call to tell me about it. You see, I probably wont hear my phone ring .....