He, you must know, is a great banker. Thus you see different sorts of persons leisurely going along, full of joy and mirth. The night comes. Men, women and children wear their best costumes, almost all of various colours, and so form a wonderfully bizarre effect, which harmonizes into kaleidoscopic beauty. This is also the night for worshipping Saraswati, the goddess of learning.
Merchants start their new ledgers, by making the first entry.
The officiating priest, the ubiquitous Brahmin, mutters some prayers and invokes the goddess. Pious people then go to the temples, but here too there is nothing to be seen but mirth and glee, dazzling light and splendour. The following day, i.e., the new year's day, is the day of paying and receiving visits. Kitchen fires are put out on this day, so that people eat the cold food which has been previously prepared. But the glutton by no means starves, for there is such profusion that though he eats and eats again there is yet plenty and to spare.