Diwali - Festival of lights

Diwali is a very special time to be in India. It is an occassion of great festivities. Families use this time to meet relatives and friends, and exchange gifts. Houses are decorated with lots of lights. Children and adults enjoy the celebration with a great amount of fireworks bursting.
However, the tradition of bursting fireworks is reducing gradually. There are concerted campaigns to reduce the use of firecrackers because of the smoke and sound pollution they cause. In fact, at the end of Diwali, in the next morning, a haze formed by smoke can be seen clearly over the city.
The photograph above is from a type of firecracker that is in a round shape with a rounded bottom so that it can spin easily. There is a rope of powder wound around a central point, and one end is lighted. As the rope burns with energy due to the powder, it imparts a spin to the cracker whuch starts rotating at great speeds. At night, in the darkness, the sparks it emits makes it look real beautiful.