New Delhi, March 16 -- Residents in parts of Delhi are bracing once again for sleepless nights as celebrations for the upcoming Navratri festival bring with them a recurring nightmare - late-night processions blaring devotional music through loudspeakers and boom boxes, rattling homes and choking major roads and little police intervention despite the blatant violation of a raft of norms.

The processions mainly enter Delhi through the borders with Ghaziabad and Noida, passing through arterial roads such as the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, National Highway-9, Mathura Road, Outer Ring Road, Aurobindo Marg, and Mehrauli-Gurugram Road. Among the worst affected are residents of east, south and southeast Delhi, particularly those who live in Greate...