Early in the morning, I made the mistake of looking outside my window. The green leaves on the giant Neem tree outside my house were covered with white smoke. The resident birds of my garden, the Bulbuls and Mynas, were not hopping happily on the grass. I live in Delhi, the month is November. We are celebrating Delhi’s favourite annual festival – the Festival of Fog.

When somebody is suffering from an incurable disease in Hindi movies, the doctor wearing a spotless white coat, armed with a stethoscope, a God-fearing pious look on his face, looks towards the roof(he is indoors, can’t look at the sky) and says – inko dua ki zaroorat hai, dawa ki nahin (only prayers can cure him, he doesn’t need medicine ). We are very close to that situation. Only a miracle can save us. Miracles do happen, mostly in our films, sometimes in real life. “Festival of Fog”, seems to be that incurable disease of Delhi.

The other popular festival of India will soon be celebrated in Delhi- the Festival of Democracy.

I would share a story I read somewhere about Russian politics (which could be false), a long time back –

Boris Yeltsin got a phone call from his chief election commissioner. ” I have bad news and I have good news,” he said.

“Give me the bad news first”, said Yeltsin.

“Your opponent got more than 60 % of the vote,” said the official.

“Then what’s the good news?”

“You won.” said the official.

Hail democracy! Breathe Easy!

Photos and content by Prerna Jain