True to it's form, Mumbai continues to amaze and fascinate. These past two weeks alone saw three huge festivals: Dahi Handi, Eid (with it's month-long eating extravaganza), and the beginnings of Ganpati.
Dahi Handi, or as the Westerners refer to it -- the human pyramid festival, was last Monday. Truck loads of men (with a few groups of women) sauntered through the streets to find honey pots strung up high. After assessing the situation, do some dancing, do a little planning and corralling of their group members (who get a bit distracted showing off for the local foreign tourists :-), they make a human pyramid to reach the honey pot. It is truly a spectacle. The roots of this festival are to celebrate the birth of Krishna, who was a naughty boy in his youth and would climb up to the kitchen counter.
He are the pictures that I took.
And here is a link to a professional photography website. Super amazing images.
Meanwhile, the Muslims were fasting during the day and eating extravagant meals at sundown. See my earlier post for the foodie adventure that Waciuma and had down on Mohammed Ali Rd, the heart of Islam in Mumbai. This festival culminates with Eid, which was this past Wednesday. Everywhere you looked you saw men dressed in pure white. We heard fireworks throughout the night. I was disappointed that we had to decline an invitation to join the festivities with a family from ASB. It would have been a fantastic opportunity to learn more about their culture. Next year.
And of course, for Hindus in Mumbai, the grandaddy of them all -- Ganpati, the Ganesha Festival -- began this past Thursday. The temples have been given a facelift and some have been erected in public spaces (one right next to the meat salesmen I always go to in the market). Leading up to the festival, stores produce hundreds of thousands Ganesha statues of all shapes large and small. In our neighborhood, the store is on S.V. Road and we popped in for a visit. Inside were thousands of statues, some as large as 8ft high but most small enough for one person to easily carry in their arms -- the size of a baritone. It felt like a Saturday in early December as families were milling around trying to pick one out. Unfortunately for these families, almost all had been pre-sold.
In the evenings there are processions down our street involving lots of fast-paced music, dancing, and a cart carrying the Ganesha statue. We looked down from our window and took these pictures and video.
It's a melting pot for sure with some many people out in the streets celebrating so many things. And the rains keep coming -- these people don't hold back just because there are torrential downpours. In fact, this past Monday we left school at 10:30am because the rains in combination with the high tide were causing flooding.
Hope you are all well, keep in touch!
So happy you are back to posting your impressions and adventures. I was particularly pleased to see the women building their pyramid. It must be amazing to be experiencing these festivals for a second time. Now you can appreciate the subtleties, much like seeing a movie or reading a book for the second time. enw
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