hey everyone if you've been watching our uploads in order you may be surprised to learn that
today's video we're actually filming in Mumbai and the reason for that is because our videos
are usually a couple weeks behind but today is a very special day here in India it is
Diwali its our first time experiencing Diwali and so we are filming today in Mumbai our
experience of Diwali and we want to put it online for you guys to enjoy as soon as possible
as close to Diwali as possible and then after this video I promise we will go back to Delhi
and show you the incredible food that we tried there to start off this video I'm gonna rewind
a couple of hours and show you exactly how we got here today
So for anyone who's not familiar with Diwali it is one of the biggest festivals here in
India it's actually celebrated by people of four different religions Hindus Sikhs some
Buddhists and Jains and all those religions seem to have their own sort of reason for
celebrating Diwali but what seems to be common amongst all four of them is that there's a
focus on New Beginnings and of that's really loud there's a lot going on today and of goodness
over evil and light over dark so it is a festival of lights we expect to see lots of like lit
up things today lots of lights on trees lots of candles there's honestly so many ways to
celebrate Diwali and I've heard the saying that if you get like three people from India
together you'll have five different ways to celebrate Diwali so that's cool and it's so
different from region to region here in Mumbai it's probably completely different than how
they do it there in Delhi for us it's just Nicole and I it's usually a communally celebrated
holiday but since it's just Nicole and I we'll probably just be walking around and just enjoying
what Mumbai has to offer so it was a little tricky to figure out where we should go tonight
but some people online suggested we try Marine Drive they said there's be lots of people
down here and holy smokes I don't know if you can see like the row of people this goes
on for kilometers like actually kilometers there's kilometers of a walkway here just
lining the water and there are so many people sitting on the edge just watching the sunset
and I think waiting for the city to light up well now that the sun has officially completely
set it looks absolutely beautiful here at Marine Drive we've got the lights on the trees
and then all the light posts as well lining the roads a bunch of them seem to have lights
on them and they're colored lights so together it just make for like a really beautiful area
Mumbai is so beautiful it's hard to actually find the fireworks because the buildings like
the skyline is so lit up and so bright it's tough like we can hear them but trying to
catch them even visually is difficult on the camera so far impossible I hear firecrackers
so we're just gonna go in that direction seems like a good plan
holy smokes that was just in like the middle of the sidewalk and it starts going off all
the sudden
seems like it must be so normal here everyone's just like walking past like nothing's happening
here but like firecrackers are going off and children are dancing in front of it everyone's
just like do do dooo nothing to see here and I'm like what?
Happy Diwali
I think people are also like a lot more friendlier at this time we've been told that like Diwali
is like a time of the year to like really like forget like your grudges and like your
qualms with people and your issues and just like start it off new new beginning New Year
and just like started off very positively
you guys enjoy it yeah that was good
I was not expecting that I was waiting for a three two one go
like warning, everyone down
just hold it okay hold it
so we met a local here his name is Sandeep and we're just talking to him about Diwali
and just how different it can be across different parts of India so how would you say like Diwali
is different in Mumbai yeah Mumbai is all fun fair sweets and lighting beautiful decoration
crackers and other parts of India also people want to celebrate in a big way Diwali stands
for being together as a society and doing good to each other well completely in line
with what Mico said earlier about people today just feeling like super positive really happy
really warm really friendly we just had a wonderful conversation with Sandeep all about
the Diwali took the time to teach us a little bit about it it was a really cool to like
just get a chance to spend time with a local and hear their perspective on Diwali on this
incredible Festival Canada yeah thank you happy Diwali
so we just exited the train station and uh it's already like very very busy again lots
of things going on and there's lots of cool like designs they're making on the ground
I think it's called the Rangoli I've never seen anything like it but they're like putting
like colored sand on the ground into different formations so it looks like in the middle
of each one they've got some bananas some coconuts some flowers some candles I'm gonna
assume it's like maybe for good luck or it's in front of stores so maybe it's like to get
business to drive business to the store like good luck with the business so what is it
what does it mean well yeah why why do you why do you do this yeah
so they they say it's for prayer I don't know what that means exactly and how it's used
for prayer but it's very very cool
thank you very much what is what is this so now they've given us like a little like uh
sweets
so good giving sweets is a really big part of Diwali and it's so it's so nice and kind
of them to do that
Happy Diwali
okay thank you of course nice to meet you all yeah
people are definitely at their best here in India at Diwali they are so so nice we are
just having a wonderful evening if you come in with a lot of curiosity and ask questions
they're more than happy to answer them for you and also give you some really nice sweets
and just to teach you like I think we've been we've been asking people to teach us a bit
about Diwali yeah what does it mean to you what does it mean what does it mean for Mumbai
and people are really open and welcoming to like let you learn which is such a treat as
a foreigner in a new place yeah
love how he just sets it off right in the middle of the road it's just like boom I must
say like coming from Canada this would never fly oh my God no you would never see random
fireworks going off in the middle of the road without any warning also okay what's hilarious
is that when the things go off it like freaks me out like I can feel my heart like skip
a beat I get pretty nervous about it no one around us flinches it's like they've heard
a bird tweet no one notices like it's freaky the people here are just like no one notices
they don't flinch nobody flinches super impressive we're getting closer to shivaji Park which
is where uh lots of the lights are supposed to be happening here in Mumbai
everyone looks so nice like they look so beautiful I feel really really underdressed okay there
are even more people in here I didn't think it was possible but there are even more people
in here celebrating everybody looks so good and now there are tons of firecrackers and
fireworks happening wow
okay India you know how to celebrate this is intense
so the fireworks display and the firecracker display just sort of just happens there's
no schedule or anything it looks like there's a massive field and then everybody's just
setting off their own fireworks and firecrackers I think a firework just came into the ground
here
I think it's possible to be a little bit too close to the action
like everyone is so chill about it but I'm like how many fingers have been lost tonight
on the plus side I have never been this close to fireworks exploding that's true it's literally
like 30 feet in the air it's happening right above our heads it's kind of cool that way
it's crazy here we're gonna try and walk around the field it'd be like super dangerous to
walk through the middle so we're just gonna move around the sides
people love the camera
happy diwali happy diwali happy diwali
there's like a fence right here I'm pretty sure this is like where you want to be safe
we chose to inside the fence we chose to be in the field because how many times are you
in India for Diwali right true true
that guy was on it
guys you know we've been in some pretty like hairy situations in the past where like lots
of things are going on and the senses are getting overloaded but this is this is crazy
okay someone's lighting a thing all right I've learned a couple things while we've been
here in Diwali first of all uh when you see somebody running you should probably run in
that direction as well secondly this is way better than the fireworks back in Canada the
fireworks back in Canada is just like one-sided you just kind of view it you know you're not
really part of the action usually from across like a lake yeah lie a really far distance
but here in India you're like part of the fray you're in the action whether you want
to be or not you're there to experience the fireworks and avoid them and Dodge them and
light them
and escape from them it's a way more immersive experience
well I don't think that we knew what to expect for Diwali but it certainly wasn't this yeah
this is like way better than I could ever have imagined it turned out to be such a great
day I honestly thought it was just gonna be Nicole and I enjoying Diwali today but I felt
like we met more people along the way and just chatted with so many people and really
felt the energy and the vibe of Diwali India Mumbai was a wonderful place to spend Diwali
I'm so glad we chose to spend it here this was an epic way to see this city we're gonna
end it off here on a high note we hope you guys enjoyed our Diwali special if you've
been following our journey we're gonna pick up on the next episode back in Delhi we'll
see you guys there but in the meantime Happy Diwali Happy Diwali