In an attempt to rekindle the spirit of community living, your favourite app/website City Spidey goes all out with the "friendly neighbourhood" message — and what better occasion to do that than on Diwali, the festival of lights.
That's precisely why when residents of Purvanchal Royal Park (PRP), a housing complex in Sector 137, Noida, decided to organise a Diwali mela on Sunday, October 23, City Spidey was quick to support it. With as many as 30 stalls displaying home decor items, fruits, gift items, clothes, carpets and home-cooked specialities, along with game zones, it was such a high-energy event that thousands of residents turned up, not just from PRP but also from nearby societies such as Exotica Fresco, Paramount Floraville and Supertech Ecociti.
The Tambola stall, particularly, attracted a sizeable crowd. Residents — kids and adults alike — were seen queuing up for game tickets. After all, the prizes (sponsored by City Spidey) were quite interesting — bangles, fruit baskets, crayons, etc.
"Tambola is an interesting game that can be played by all age groups," said Sandeep Ohri, a PRP resident. In a variant of the game, a caller randomly selects numbers and calls them out for a group of players who each have a card of random numbers in a grid. The players mark the numbers off their cards as they are called, and the objective is to mark a full line.
Vishal Rastogi, a resident of PRP, said the best part of the mela were the game stalls put up by the kids. "These budding entrepreneurs dealt with the customers very confidently," he said.
Another resident, Vikash Malhotra, said that he particularly liked flying lamp balloons. The mela, he added, was a great way to unwind on the weekend, more so because it was held inside residential premises — no driving required!
No wonder, then, that residential Diwali melas are now becoming a popular feature in every society.
