Imagine, if you will, 100,000 people packed into the few streets of a little town surrounding a lake about 500 meters on a side. Imagine that they came from all over India to ritually bathe away their sins on the same night, and float candles in the water. Imagine the crowds. Imaging all of them chanting and singing, and accompanying themselves with drums, bells, cymbals, pans, flutes, other horns, and every kind of party favor. I’d put a picture up, but photography is prohibited, no doubt out of respect and because so many are stripped down. It’s a sight. I got up at 4:30 to watch. It was amazing. And it was the first time I had experienced the famed crush of moving humanity you’ve seen on TV. It was intense, to say the least. I got my pocket picked too. Now I’m a real Indian. In case you’re wondering, I’ve got that matter almost handled. You can telephone America for 5 minutes for $1.
People are starting to clear out, though I have no idea how they are getting to the nearby main city of Amjer to continue on to wherever. There’s a bus every 15 minutes, but that ain’t going to cut it. I’ll bet many thousands walked the 11 km to there. Yesterday, during the day, I sat in a rooftop terrace restaurant, above the madness, and people watched. They’ve come from all over India, even tribal areas like Nagaland and Manipur. Here’s a shot of what passed one this not main street all day yesterday, and is only slowly dissipating today, the last day of the festival and associated camel fair and trade event.
The camel fair was underwhelming. A lot of nothing went on, unless you were showing cattle, horses or camels. The events were incredibly downscale, untill the last night. They had a cultural program with music and dance from all over India, even remote places like Nagaland and Manipur of the other side of Bangladesh. They did have a few intersting things. There’s a whole subcaste of itinerate entertainers. Those of you who’ve read “A Fine Balance” may remember this from the front cover.
And there was the five legged cow.
A game of musical chairs was even on the printed program. Now THAT drew an excited crowd. I know I was excited. I gave myself peanut belly. Here’s a peanut vendor, as excited as I was.
There were several lanes of vendors in the bazaar outside the “stadium”, selling about anything you’d want, but here’s part of the food court inside.
They were dancin’ in the aisles to a little minstrel group.
And then there were the camels. There were a few hundred there. Mostly they were behind the stadium being traded, but they gusssied up a couple dozen to give people rides on.
So, as I said, it would have been nice to publish pictures of the religious activities at the ghats, but it was prohibited. Here’s kind of a nice piture taken from that terrace restaurant. And with that, I’m out of here. I’m going to Gujarat (where all the Patels of US hotel fame come from)Â tomorrow night, and on to Mumbai (Bombay). I’ll write from there. Be well, all of you.
