Deepavali celebrations in Chennai

Whenever I visit Chennai in the November month, The reason is obviously because of Deepavali. Deepavali or Diwali is a Hindu Festival in which people celebrate the story of Ramayana, in which Rama, the form of Mahavishnu, defeats the Lanka Demon King Ravana. At about 4:00 in the morning, they start setting fireworks all over Chennai. There would be over 1000 fireworks set off in Chennai if there were a count! The people dress up traditionally, for example, Dhoti, Sari, etc. At about 7:00-10:00 am the cultural streets of Mylapore would be overflowing. Especially, the temples would start their celebrations. The Kapaleeswarar temple at Mylapore isn't a Vishnu temple, but they also take Deepavali seriously. Special Poojas (Rituals) would be conducted in the temple, and families would offer sweets to the god for good luck. At the breakfast time (8:00-10:00 am), most families would stick to a familiar mini tiffin, with a side of a special sweet made for Deepavali. (Note: Deepavali is super crowded so I advise going to temples early morning.) If you want to go to temples close to Mylapore which takes about 10-20 minutes to reach, you could try TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) at T. Nagar. You could also try the Parthasarathy temple at Triplicane (Thiruvallikeni) but mostly avoid it unless you enjoy crowds. You could also go to nearby temples like Alwarpet Anjeneya temple, Anjeneya temple at Alamelumangapuram, Mylapore. Note that you should go to this early in the morning. This is some useful information for locals at Mylapore. Thank you!

(Children celebrating Deepavali by setting fireworks in a street.)

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