Chinmayee Manjunath

I had an unusual start to the Diwali weekend. October was an oddly frustrating month for me, with unexpected delays and a dental surgery messing up my calendar. As the festive weekend came around, I was feeling more than a little out of sorts, and then my neighbour asked if I wanted to accompany her on her weekend morning visit to Dadar flower market. At 5.30 am. I am not a morning person, usually, but I’ll do anything to see and buy flowers, so I was quite happy to say yes.

And it was completely worth it. The rough and tumble in the market made it impossible for me to take any pictures but this is the haul we came home with, and it just fixed my mood. The hustle bustle was just so incredible to watch and be a part of it. There is nothing more transformative than watching a city to come to life – on that one street, there were vendors, business-people, bargain hunters, and sundry folk conducting business swiftly and efficiently, as is the norm in Bombay.

I might just make this a weekly errand.