While Barodians old and young marked the mythical victory of good over evil with loud and showy fire-crackers, there were no reports of any mishaps from anywhere in the city or rural areas till the time of going to press.

Prisoners of the Baroda Central Jail, too, joined in the festival by lighting diyas provided by the jail administration in their barracks and in surrounding buildings. They also purchased sweets for distribution among their friends and jail-mates.

But Diwali was marked by gloom in the homes of most Oriyas settled in the city. Bharuch District Collector B B Swain, Vadodara Police Commissioner J Mahapatra and DRM Western Railways K C Jena were among the many Oriyas who preferred to observe the festival quietly in view of the devastating cyclone in the coastal State.

``Though we don't usually set off fire-crackers on Diwali, our habits had changed ever since we left Orissa. But this year, things are different'', said Mamata Behera, wife of a senior accounts officer at IOC. Senior technical manager, IOC, A C Misra, too said Oriya families in the city continued to be shrouded in gloom.

Another section of society which did not find anything worth celebrating on Diwali were the industrial worker, most of whom did not receive any bonus this year. S Vohra and R Rathod, employees of the sick Petrofils, said that even for those who did mark Diwali, the festivities were muted at best.

Traders, however, had nothing much to complain about: The city accounted for business worth Rs 5 crores in fire-crackers alone in the past few days. ``This is more than double the business we did last year, when unseasonal rains destroyed our stock'', said Dattesh Chhatriwala of Harni Road and Ramesh Gandhi and Nagendra Shah of the Polo Ground firecrackers market.

Among the popular fire-crackers this year were exotically named ones: Kargil, Meri Awaz Suno, Siren, Dance of Angel, Dilwala, Choli ke peeche, Air Traffic Signal, Tug-of-War, Indian Dynamite and Golden Whistle!