A long time ago, I promised a photo of Dehradun’s version of the “Grassy Knoll”. This is the best I can do. It’s hard to find the right angle for this one. The house would actually look fine on a three-acre plot, but since it’s on a much smaller one, and since the street is rather narrow, I must plead photographic incompetence.

Last night, the owners of the house had their “Gria Parvesh” or house-warming ceremony.  For so long, we have referred to the place as “The Spaceship”. Imagine our surprise when an invitation arrived from “The Galaxy”.

Preparations began several days in advance.The wall was painted an arresting shade of orange, with flowers inter-spersed along the top:

The lightswere draped from the roof-top, and later, from the trees. Here’s how it looked:

But it’s still difficult to convey adequately.  So here’s a slightly longer view:

But photos cannot convey the excitement in the neighborhood, the crazy interest, the way the lights were eventually strung along all the streets leading to the house or the way the whole area glowed through the night, like a new constellation or, indeed, a galaxy.