The season begins in Mumbai in September with the Mount Mary Feast, a week-long festival at a Portuguese church in the western suburb of Bandra drawing busloads of visitors from all over the city. Next is the Ganpati festival, an event marked by noisy processions and public immersions. Navratri, Dussehra, Id, Diwali and Christmas follow in quick succession, each marked by public gatherings, colourful pandals, roadside kiosks and music. It is hard to imagine any city in the world which would be called upon to alter its traffic rules and lifestyle to accommodate such celebratory outbursts on a regular basis.

Each festival is supported by a mini industry. The knick knacks sold on the road during the Mount Mary feast (luminous crucifixes, wooden figurines), the decorated Ganpati pandals and the embroidery on Christmas dresses are the handiwork of anonymous, toiling artisans. How their business may have expanded can be guessed from the finery on show this Diwali. Mumbai’s street urchins are selling gift items made of sequined papier mache. And jewellery shops are strung out with coloured lights and elaborate floral displays. Strands of lights hang from trees, form canopies or cascade down the fronts of multi-storied buildings. A business centre has strings of coloured acrylic triangles floating down its atrium, another is lit up entirely by a cold blue light. Lanterns in every shape, size and colour are on sale at street corners and every bush and dark doorway appears to be a-glitter. Globalisation can be a quirky business.

... contd.