When the train crosses Dahisar, you can feel the difference. The areas that follow, Mira Road and Bhayandar, feel serenely detached at times, from the hullabaloo of the city. Not to say these are quiet places. Especially not during Diwali. When the festival of lights approaches, both places show different sides of themselves, offering different flavours of the festival for all types of people.

In the entirety of Mira Road, you will be hard-pressed to find a more lively or more beautifully decorated locality than Shanti Nagar. This is the heart of the market, a place that shows much of the joy of Diwali. Walking through the web of narrow streets and gullies, the name of the place starts to seem more and more ironic. There are families, old couples and friends walking around, going through the products on display. The streets surrounding Jain Mandir are lit by a beautiful formation of lights stretching as far as the eyes can see, complemented often by building decorations, both of which are not taken down for the entirety of the season. Down below, you find a road flanked by vendors selling lanterns, flowers, diyas, idols, rangolis, vegetables and fruits, all of them right in front of stores selling festive clothes, shoes and jewellery, alongside general stores, medicals, sports equipment and more.