Dan's Adventure

Indians love fireworks, especially those that make a lot of noise. The day I arrived back in Jaisalmer from the camel safari was Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and that night walking the streets became quite dangerous. Fireworks were being lit everywhere. Rockets were fired from the hand, fire crackers lined up on the roads and catherine wheels span on the ground. All the while people, motorbikes and cows continued to pass by with fireworks going off unexpectedly all around. Unlike the fireworks that I am used to, none of these were very colourful, the intended purpose just seemed to be to make a lot of noise. Whole families were sitting in the streets watching as the children lit rocket after rocket, safety rules don’t exist in India, so holding a rocket whilst its being lit is perfectly acceptable for an eight year old to do. Jaisalmer didn’t have the same influx of firework shops that Jaipur had so I can only imagine that Diwali in Jaipur would have been an even noisier affair!