Neighbourhood wakes up early to celebrate Deepavali

Mylapore woke up to the bursting of fire crackers this Deepavali festival, with the booms shattering the quiet of dawn as early as 5 a.m.

Though there was a nip in the air with dewy conditions and a hint of rain, families who swear by tradition were up early in the morning and the young ones were seen bursting the first round of crackers before dawn.

We spotted the teen residents of Ramakrishna Mission Students Home in Mylapore, the campus adjacent to Vivekananda College gathering to burst a round of crackers to celebrate the occasion ( seen in the photo here).

By 7.30 a.m. there were queues outside all the local temples, with families trooping in for an auspicious start to the day.

As the day progressed, one could spot children dressed in their Deepavali clothes having fun in the open spaces or in local playgrounds, some bursting fire crackers.

And outside the TASMAC liquor store near the Thirumylai MRTS station, there were at least a few hundred people queuing up to buy liquor and enjoy the day the way they liked to.