Devotees gear up for Diwali in diverse ways

From decorating their houses to going on vacation, people in the city are celebrating the festival of lights in diverse ways.
Diyas, candles and flowers adorn the house of the Mehta family in Santacruz. “We just finished decorating the house. We are doing some last-minute cleaning before the puja room is decorated with flowers,” said Neelam Mehta, a homemaker.

Different families offer puja at different times of the day. “We will perform puja in the earlier half of the day. After that, we leave for Kerala for a vacation with the family,” said Shilpa Tejura, a resident of Malabar Hill.

Some environment-concious people are ensuring that they don’t light many diyas in their house other than not bursting crackers. “We have decided to put only one lamp diya outside our home. We believe that lighting too many diyas harms the environment,” said Sandeep Mehta, a resident of Thakur village in Kandivli.