Although many locals warned us that going into town during Ganesh Chaturthi on a saturday night would be a challenge, due to the crowds, we decided to take our chances.
The old city centre was made traffic free and the streets were indeed crawling with people.
There was all sorts of stuff for sale, people were eating and drinking, many dressed up nicely.
There were Ganesha’s on every corner and we walked from one location to the other, admiring the pandals (stages) with the decorated idols.
The old city centre was made traffic free and the streets were indeed crawling with people.
There was all sorts of stuff for sale, people were eating and drinking, many dressed up nicely.
There were Ganesha’s on every corner and we walked from one location to the other, admiring the pandals (stages) with the decorated idols.
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| Lively atmosphere. |
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| Businesses and shopping frenzy. |
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| This juice bar has it’s own hanging Ganesh on throne. |
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| Festive clothing, also for the little girl. |
We came across lots of quiet, modest pandals:
Bit larger and busier ones:
And the quite big and busy pandals:
Several had made big tableaus:
This giant tableau above street level was themed around female foeticide. Apparently the ‘foetus’ was not placed well, because suddenly there were two ‘live’ men in the scene, rearranging it in her mother’s womb. Funny!
This tableau involved sound, mechanized movements and ‘fire’.
At some stages actual theatre was performed, with actors, costumes and a participating, cheering crowd.
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| Not the best pictures, bit it gives an impression. |
After a couple of hours we had (seen) enough. It WAS a challenge to find an auto rickshaw back to the hotel, but other then that, we had a great evening.
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