Diwali festivities enliven city

LUCKNOW: Adorned in new clothes, Lucknowites celebrated Diwali with festive gaiety on Saturday. While most of them spent the day in preparing for the festival of lights, the evening saw the city sparkling in multi-coloured lights awaiting to welcome goddess Lakshmi to bless them.
"The conjoined efforts of millions of tiny bulbs of the electric lights, candles and diyas is sure to bring a smile on Lakshmi's face," said Ankita Mishra, a marketing professional working for a telecom company in Lucknow.She added that the blessing was much needed one. "It's been a long phase of salary cuts.... I just hope the recession hangover goes away faster," she said.
The evenings saw the traditional `Lakshmi Pujan' with every household trying its best to invoke the goddess of wealth. "It is believed that Lakshmi comes to homes which are well lit and clean... times have changed and earthen diyas have been replaced by aroma candles but the spirit is same... asking Lakshmi to come to their houses and bless the families," said Sarita Singh, a housewife, told TOI.
Get-togethers multiplied the happiness that mark Diwali every year. Friends and relatives thronged each other's houses, exchanging Diwali wishes and sweets. Those who could not visit their relatives and friends made use of the technology to send across Diwali messages. Homemaker Shravani Paul remained busy preparing for a blast planned by her friends at her house. She said: "I like to make the sweets myself and don't buy them from the markets. After the sweets are ready we will visit our relatives and friends with gifts."
However, despite various campaigns against noisy crackers, city recorded high decibel levels with noisy crackers ranting the air. On the bitter side, many suffered burn injuries as well. But, no death due to crackers or burn injuries was reported till the time of filing this report.