Mumbai
Driving across Mumbai, normally hazardous and exhausting, is an uplifting experience at Diwali, India’s five-day-long festival of lights. A million fireworks light up the moonless sky and windows everywhere are aglitter with fairy lights.
Join the celebrations at Marine Drive, where fire flowers uplift the normally insipid skyline, or at Juhu Beach, where thousands step out to party in public. For spiritual highlights, head to the 18th-century Mumbadevi temple, home to the city’s mother goddess and a gargantuan aarti, or worship, and nearby Bhuleshwar, where clay lamps have lit up the 150 steps to a Shiva temple for centuries. End with the Banganga tank, around which sit 100 temples, and where devotees line up to light candles and lamps.
Diwali shopping is best at the Bombay Perfumery or Bombay Shirt Company. Enjoy a modern Indian meal at Floyd Cardoz’s Bombay Canteen or at South Mumbai’s hipster hangout, Kamala Mills, home to nouvelle cuisine specialists Masque and Koko.
★ Book with Etihad Airways to Mumbai:
Fly Economy Class from Dh770, with three-night holidays starting from Dh1,499. Book now at etihad.com
London and Leicester
The scintillating Diwali celebration at Trafalgar Square, hosted by mayor Sadiq Khan, is already finished. While there remain a host of celebrations across the city over the next couple of weeks, the real action is two hours north, in Leicester, home to the biggest Diwali party outside India. Glittering lights line the Golden Mile in Belgrave and businesses display festival decorations. A Diwali Village is being hosted at the Cossington Street Recreation Ground and the New Walk Museum is exhibiting the myths associated with the festival.
Two halts are essential to Diwali shoppers. Aashni & Co. has been creating a stir in the Ledbury Road of London’s Notting Hill, stocking India’s hottest designers, including Bodice by Ruchika Sachdeva, and favourites such as Rohit Bal and Sabyasachi. Channel your inner maharaja with Mughal-inspired precious baubles at Nirav Modi in Old Bond Street. From Michelin-starred Veeraswamy to brand-new Vineet Bhatia London, traditional Diwali delights are aplenty. But the in-the-know folk will flock Dishoom, which is serving a Diwali menu inspired by India’s street food, and Talli Joe, Sameer Taneja’s Shaftesbury Avenue eatery.
★ Book with Etihad Airways to London:
Fly Economy Class from Dh2,030, with five-night holidays starting from Dh2,999. Book now at etihad.com
New York
Diwali at Times Square is legend: eight hours of song and dance, larger-than-life Bollywood drama, fashion shows and digital fireworks. But go beyond Manhattan for more diversity. Vibrantly decorated cars and fantastic floats liven up Queens, while the Bronx settles back with classical dance performances.
For the spiritually inclined, the Brooklyn Hindu Temple organises an evening puja. The Vishwa Dharma Mandalam Hindu Temple, inside the Astoria Centre, invites devotees to light a candle or have personal deities bathed. Give back at the Rubin Museum of Art which hosts a charity event or give in with the city’s biggest Diwali party at the Bombay Palace’s chic K Lounge.
Forget outlet malls and head to the NYC stores of Bibhu Mohapatra or Mumbai-born Naeem Khan. Locally based Hemant & Nandita design experimental Western wear with an Indian twist, while Rimzim Dadu designs street chic clothing.
There’s plenty of Diwali eating too: Lotus root three ways at Chelsea eatery Junoon, butter chicken at Moti Mahal Delux’s Diwali, watermelon curry at Paowalla, or the ten-course progression at the NYC Iteration of Indian Accent.
★ Book with Etihad Airways to New York:
Fly Economy Class from Dh3,230, with five-night holidays starting from Dh4,999. Book now at etihad.com
