Our first Diwali in India (after a gap of 16 years) was definitely memorable. One of our Bay Area friends (Smita) responded to a tweet requesting me to record some of the Diwali audio action. Fortunately, I recorded some Qik videos a few nights before Diwali. The two Diwali nights were tough because the kids got spooked with the super high decibels.

This video was shot from our balcony and has some ‘anaars’ and ‘bhoomi chakras’ in action with some low-intensity bombs – the boys were not yet spooked. The eight buildings of Raheja Residency were looking very festive with the Diwali lights.

The second and third videos were Qik’d at Mantri Classic – a smaller apartment community where our friends Rajnish and Meena live. You can hear the little one’s voice in the background – he had a great time watching the visual fireworks. The sounds (very sedate compared to Raheja Residency) didn’t bother him.