finding rickshaw.

Scorecared continued:

Saturday, October 4, 2008: We drove 2 hours south of A’bad to a city called Baroda with Chandni (she lives there) and Ketu. Baroda, as hyped by Chandni and confirmed by locals, is known for having the largest and best garbas in India. In A’bad, people dance in their social cliques (that often disbanded when I brought my bad dancing to their circles); so any one venue would have 40 plus small dancing circles. This is very different from the garbas back at home, where everyone moves in the same direction in concentric circles. The Baroda garba was actually similar to the ones at home, but as Chandni described, was 1000x larger. We danced with at least 25,000 other people and were watched by 10,000 more. I can’t think of any other event where that many people are actively participating (excluding competitive superfans). It was a top ten moment. After the garba, we went with Chandni’s uncle to get Pav Bhaje (greasy bread rolls with a delicious vegetable spread) and then went to a high society after party (you can find alcohol in Gujarat!).

I brought a fever and intense headache home from Baroda and took the next few nights off.

Thursday, October 9, 2008: Navratri ended yesterday and today is “Dasara”. Schools and offices are closed as this day is the “anniversary” of the Hindu God-King Ram’s (from the epic Ramayana*) victory over the demon Ravana. I went with my cousin Parag and his family and watched a 10 story tall Ravana doll burn amidst spectacular fireworks.

*I’ve been saying for years (ask Liz Pingpank) that the Ramayana could be a Hollywood epic along the lines of Lord of the Rings and Braveheart. It’s a magical story that has the mystery, action, love and drama necessary for an epic: Young prince wins beautiful princess’ hand through a feat of strength but then is exiled to the Indian forest where his wife gets kidnapped by the demon king and has to spend the next 10 years searching for his wife with the help of a powerful monkey and his army and ultimately kills the demon king to regain his wife but at the mercy of his subjects questions her purity and ultimately loses her to mother earth but not before she gives birth to twin sons who unknowingly challenge their father, the king.

Saturday, October 11, 2008: Navratri ended last Wednesday, but I guess after Navratri are the after-Navratri garbas. I went with my new neighbors and had a great time. Venue was much smaller, but the quality of dancing was great. Some groups even broke out into choreographed dance (I can see where Bollywood gets it).

I’m still in awe of how massive the Navratri celebrations are here. Even my parents were surprised to hear the stories as the garbas they remember were much, much smaller. Other than the heat, this event is worth making a trip back to India every few years.

~ by findingrickshaw on October 15, 2008.

Posted in Uncategorized