Celebrating Uttrayan-Gujarati Kite Festival Day 2: 15th January 2015.
Note: please read Day 1 blog before you read this sequel.
As mentioned in Day 1 blog, the Indian state of Gujarat celebrates this festival like none other around the world. Talk to any Gujarati and they'll tell you Uttrayan is their favourite celebration each year....I can certainly see why.
Thursday the 15th January started reasonably uneventful.....I don't know if fate is responsible or if it's the chance circumstances of the day that sucked us into its unexpected splendour. We had planned to meet Bruce's Brisbane co-worker engineer, Hanoo (born and bred in Finland) for breakfast at 9am in the hotel restaurant. As things don't get started in India at least until 11am each day, we decided to meet again in the foyer at 10:45am and catch a taxi to the Palace. We checked with reception as to whether or not the Palace would be open on the public holiday. They made some enquiries and it was established that the palace was closed. The beautiful thing here in India is that when a public holiday is called, the shops and paid activities are closed and everyone is free to be with their families and friends unlike the Western world where the ultimate dollar and greed play a major part and shops and services are open regardless of the importance of the holiday.
As Hanoo had not been to Old City Vadodara, I suggested we take him there to wander around the lake and bazaar area. You may have read my previous posts of Old City, and if not, please do. It is what you may conjure up in your mind of typically raw India. There are many slums, the less fortunate locals dressed in rags of material hanging from their sparse skinny bodies, Sadhus dressed in orange drapes sporting long white beards wander shoeless on the paved dirty roads with white carved walking sticks dodging fresh cow, dog and human faeces. The cows stand and chew freshly cut crops on the roadside around the central lake, staring at us with their huge brown eyes and drool dripping from their horizontal grind as we wander past.....Some have horns as large as half a metre long. The area smells of rotting vegetation from uneaten crop offerings for the cows, impure water stench from human bathing and toileting and the general choking pollution from the exhaust fumes of the many Auto Rickshaws which congregate in the area to transport locals on their daily missions in life.
The taxi dropped us at the lake where we spent the best part of an hour circumnavigating it, allowing Hanoo to photograph the sites unfolding before his eyes. Many were flying their kites over the lake area some kites were as high as visibly possible, a glistening spec in the heavens. We then wandered into the Old City Bazaar area. Most shops were closed and the bazaar was only a shell of its former self as I'd seen it previously buzzing with a hive of activity. Many people live above the bazaar shops so we decided to meander the preserved cobbled streets from centuries ago, washing draped from balconies above....6-8 metre multi coloured saris glistening and floating in the warm midday breeze.
We were wandering the lane ways aimlessly similar to feeling beaten in a maze. One lane way caught my eye.... It seemed to draw me in. I suggested to the two men that we walk up that particular alley way. I was photographing the architecture of the multi century old buildings when a well dressed middle aged man introduced himself as Hasim and asked us if we'd like to come upstairs onto his rooftop to see the kites. We agreed and took him up on his offer. As it turned out, he and his wife owned the whole apartment block of which they occupied the third floor as their home. He is a business owner dealing in electronics and cable installation so I think of the upper working class it seemed. The exterior was concrete with little Romeo & Juliet balconies overlooking the cobbled lane-way. We walked four sets of stairs before climbing a rickety wooden ladder which protruded onto an open rooftop with geometrical shapes moulded into the concrete balustrading. We dare lean on the balustrading though, the cracks were severe on the overly dried concrete and it could easily be the last lean you ever do if you chanced this stance.
People were flying kites on rooftops as far as the eye could see. It was an infectious atmosphere to say the least. As we stood and watched in awe, Hasim's wife and nephew appeared with homemade Indian snacks for us to enjoy. Sesame seed treacle snaps, round balls of rice bubbles about the size of a small orange and little green apple like fruit. We accepted the offerings gratefully which were particularly good I must say. The spoken language between us was limited but we all as human beings have a universal language...a smile and acceptance. He insisted we climb yet another ladder in even more disrepair up onto the pinnacle of the roof...The area was about 3X3 metres square. His nephew brought us about 20 kites and reals of string so we started joining in on the communal act that the state of Gujarat is so passionate about.
Hasim's wife, Marrina, brought us chai tea and cooked balls of tasty potato with hot chilli sauce. This apparently was our lunch....we felt a little embarrassed that we had gate crashed their home but it seemed clear now that our presence was welcomed. We sat and talked as best we could and reviled in the surrounding atmosphere of the sprawling neighbours. Hasim's nephew said he'd be back at 4pm with his family and to wait until he came back. Meanwhile Hasim's Sister arrived and so I was then invited with the women only down into their home to have the grand tour. After removing my shoes, I entered their tiny dwelling of which they were most proud of. It had tiled flooring and concrete walls. The entry area was the living room and would have been perhaps 3X4 metres in size. She had a carved timber cabinet filled with special collectibles such as ostrich eggs, shells, brass water vessels dated 1650....all of which she was very proud of. A large flat day bed filled most of the room and I was encouraged to take a nap but I wasn't sleepy so smiled and nodded. Behind the living area was a very small area with a table with pots and pans, food supplies etc. and a fridge (complete with 5 star rating)... this room is the food preparation area. The women sit on the floor and prepare the meal. The kitchen was quite sophisticated to what I was expecting.... It had storage cupboards, small bench top areas, a gas cooktop and she even had a couple of modern pieces of equipment like a stick blender and electric hand mixer. The cooking utensils were all unusual to me but very practical. The bathroom was a tiny cold room with a cold water tap...no bath tub or shower rose. The bedroom was modest and she had a double sized bed with a beautiful hand embroidery made quilt. Old wooden shutters opened right throughout the home to allow the natural flow of air for the hot summer months reaching 48 degrees Celsius. I watched her make chai tea for us....it was a very involved process. The chai tea we order from coffee shops in the Western world is a very poor excuse for the flavour we had yesterday. The mixture was ground masala, tea, water, a nob of fresh ginger freshly ground to pulp, other spices unknown to me, sugar and milk. This is boiled rapidly for some minutes before straining and pouring into delicate fine china tea cups to be enjoyed. The men joined us in the house and she insisted we eat sweet biscuits and more cooked spinach balls rolled in fine powder again served with chilli sauce along with the spicy hot chai tea
Soon after we'd finished our chai tea, the men stayed and talked in the house and us women folk went up onto the roof and flew kites again. Laughing and smiling we seemed to enjoy each others company.
A few more women arrived and I was beckoned downstairs to the house again where all the women sat on the floor and chatted eagerly amongst themselves and cut up fruit and vegetables into a bowl. Green bananas, cucumber, persimmon, chilli and tomatoes were all carefully cut into small chunks very methodically. It seemed to be a very joyous time for them making this recipe.... I later found out they only make this for the Uttrayan festival.
By this time it was 4pm and the nephew arrived back with his family, a beautiful little girl and his young wife. They could speak some English so we exchanged small conversation....enough to get us by to know what was going on. The surrounding rooftops bubbled with excitement. Each building had masses of people on top as did ours....Our party grew to around 20 people in all. Aunties, Uncles, friends, friends of friends....we were as one. The neighbours excitedly took photos of the 'celebrities' on Hasim's rooftop.....children and adults waved at us just hoping to get some recognition. Music blasted louder than ever thought possible....huge industrial speakers were everywhere on every rooftop. Indian music pounding like a massive Bollywood extravaganza. People were dancing on the rooftops having fun wearing beautifully tailored Indian clothes. Children blew paper horns, the sound not unlike peacocks calling their mate. This was the party of all parties.....
Everyone flew kites, some large, some small, every colour you could possibly imagine was in the sky. You could not possibly look in any direction and see space between kites. The sun slowly sunk towards the horizon again gifting us with that golden peachy hue I so love in India. As dusk crept in, the lanterns drifted effortlessly above our heads. As day faded the fire lanterns seemed to brighten like golden jewels all over the sky....similar to three million fire flies perhaps. Fireworks exploded from every possible area around us. Some close, some far....we thought Brisbane River Fire was impressive but it certainly has nothing on this. Everyone has fireworks here....no WHS restrictions....Just light them up and off they go. Huge spectacular pyrotechnic displays....as familiar to fireworks as you may be, you've never seen anything like this before.
At around 7pm, we (the intruders) had to dictate when we should eat. Everyone took photos with us before heading back down the rickety ladder into the house where we were served huge portions of the green banana and fruit/ vegetable mix I'd seen the women preparing earlier. It had been cooked in a pressure cooker and was served with some sort of dry sprinkles and hot chilli sauce. We were served our portions and they watched us eat. After a while, they all joined in and ate. The women sat in a circle in the food preparation room, cross legged on the floor to eat whist the men sat on small benches in the living room with us.
We hadn't had water for hours and we'd been sitting up in the hot sun on the roof and now this hot hot chilli dish.....I thought my mouth was going to explode. I was earlier told that they boil their water.....and figured I'm going to get sick sooner or later. I was so dry I just threw caution to the wind and drank two huge glasses of water just to put the fire out. It's now mid afternoon the following day and I'm fine... So guess I dodged that bullet!
We thanked the hosts graciously at about 8pm for their hospitality and decided to catch a rickshaw back to our hotel. Two of the men escorted us out to the area where we could catch a rickshaw and they negotiated a price far better than we would have ever done.
We thought Uttrayan was an amazing experience....such a shame most Westerners never get to experience this. Gujarat is not particularly a tourist destination (which is good news for us).....but if you find yourself in India around January one year, visit one of the major cities in Gujarat and embrace and celebrate this crazy atmosphere in festival mode.... You won't be disappointed.
Purchasing crops from the women to feed the cows.
A little boy feeding the cows.
The apartment blocks in Old City Town.
Up on the roof of Hasim's apartment block.
On Hasim's roof
Some of the kites doing battle.
Neighbours
The geometrical shapes of the moulded concrete balustrading.
Our first lot of snacks Hasim's wife offered us.
The mess of electrical wires and cables.....and yes we flew kites with all that going on.
Do not lean on the balustrating.....
Hasim, Hanoo and Bruce. Under the upper rooftop where we partied!
Bruce and Hasim's nephew.
About to launch.
A familiar stance of everyone.....duck.....the glass tethered kite string is coming straight for your head!
Keeping my cool!
Neighbours getting into the party mode (lunch time).
amazing!!!! It sounds wonderful and a lot of fun xxThanks for sharing Merryn.
Reply
Jennie Wyeth
16/1/2015 07:53:40 pm
The chai tea looks great!
Reply
Jay maynard
20/1/2015 05:15:51 am
I am loving the blog. The landscape is so different, I realised there are no trees or wide open spaces. I can't wait for sari pics. Glad you are having fun .