So this is what Halloween is all about!

The last time I saw so many people and so much color in one place was back home in Bangalore, at the Basvanagudi vegetable market the day before Sankranti! All that I had learned about Halloween from sitcoms and movies had not quite prepared me for what 6th street, Austin had to offer, last Friday! I just had to step onto the street to get absorbed into the Halloween frenzy..

Dressed in minimal Halloween finery I got out of my apartment only to run into a red box shaped robot with golden eyes. The scene at the bus stop with the draculas, alladdins, batmen, catwomen, witches and Jokers was only the trailer of what I was going to see at Austin’s famous 6^th street. Which, by the way, looked like a set out of a comical, horror cum sci-fi Hollywood flick!

The pubs and restaurants were brimming with people; most of them grotesquely dressed keeping with the theme of the day.. While some, like me, under-dressed for the occasion (my red cardboard horns and mask being the only saving grace) were trying to soak in the craziness, there were others (even Indian aunties in saris, braving the crowds and the booze!) who were there just to witness the drama! People of all shapes, sizes and ages, were out on the street showing off their brilliant costumes (makes me wonder how big an industry Halloween costume-making is, here in the US!), posing for pictures with awestruck foreigners like me..

The clock struck 12, but the Cinderellas and the princes and the whole motley crew were still out reveling in the charged atmosphere, breaking their curfews.. As things got wild I decided to head back home wondering if I would have to wait another year to experience anything quite as fascinating.. It seemed like something out of a very wild dream, that makes you wake up feeling totally amused, wondering how your imagination went so haywire! I captured some really weird and whacky characters on my camera. But believe moi! No camera could have possibly captured the spirit of Halloween that night! It was in the air.. You just had to sense it.......