INDIA: Over 50,000 police and anti-terrorist commandos were deployed across India's capital New Delhi yesterday as, under the shadow of renewed militant violence, millions celebrated Diwali, the ancient Hindu festival of lights.
City police chief R.S. Gupta said all police personnel had been ordered to return to work and had their holiday cancelled after two armed terrorists were killed in a shoot-out at a crowded shopping mall in an up-market Delhi neighbourhood on Sunday night.
Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lal Krishan Advani said the gunmen, who were planning to strike at the crowded shopping complex but were ambushed by police commandos, were from Pakistan.
India accuses Pakistan of fuelling the 13-year-old armed insurgency in northern Kashmir state.
"This year the threat [from militants\] is higher. There are always terrorist modules working," Mr Ashok Chand, head of Delhi police's Special Branch, said. Police armed with automatic weapons patrolled crowded markets as traffic jams and swarms of shoppers clogged the city streets to buy their annual gifts for family and friends. Worshippers were frisked before they entered hundreds of temples to offer special Diwali prayers, and roadblocks slowed traffic down to a maddening crawl.
Diwali is one the most important Hindu festivals, marking the beginning of winter and the Indian new year that is calculated according to the lunar calendar. The festival also celebrates the return of the mythical god, Lord Rama, and his wife Sita, to his kingdom of Ayodhya north of Delhi after defeating the demon king Ravana.
Rama's homecoming, a metaphor for good triumphing over evil, is celebrated with people lighting up their homes with lamps and candles, bursting firecrackers and decorating their front entrances with complex, ancient geometric designs, known as rangolis.
The lamps also show the way into people's homes to Rama's associate, Laxmi, goddess of wealth. According to mythology, Laxmi only comes into clean households and hence most Hindus repaint their homes, and buy new clothes and utensils in preparation for the festival.
Diwali is also associated with gambling, and high-rollers lose or win millions in a night of playing the traditional "flush" or three-card stud. It is considered auspicious to lose at Diwali, as it is believed that Laxmi smiles particularly warmly on the less fortunate. Few, however, endeavour to lose.
Much like Christmas, Diwali sees shops staying open extra hours ahead of the festival, with market-places teeming with millions of shoppers.
But like most traditional Indian festivals, it has become an orgy of consumption.
"It has become a time for conspicuous spending, and somewhat crass," Mrs Shakuntla Devi, a middle-class housewife said. People compete to display their wealth and the festival has been robbed of its innocence and sense of joy, she wistfully added.