Keleshwari Mela!
Last Friday Becka and I went to the Keleshwari Mela! It's a mela, or fair, for the Adivasi people. Dr. Devy, the founder of my NGO thought it would be nice if they could get together and share their traditional dances and performing arts with each other.
We were very excited to go and we even got up at 6AM! We started off in jeep for the four hour ride to Keleshwari in Panchmahal. It was a very eventful ride with Vipul singing in the back and everyone teasing Manish about how he never talks about his wife. Everytime we mentioned her name he would take his scarf and put it around his ears so he couldn't hear us. On the way, we stopped to watch a giant truck burning. Ironically, it was carrying matches. It was a HUGE fire and every once in awhile there would be a random explosion coming out the sides. There was a great big crowd and when the police and fire department finally came we continued on our way.
When we arrived, people were just arriving. We explored the old step wells and temples scattered around. We were reading the little plaques that were around to explain what each of the ruins were. One of them was describing the "mother-in-law well" and it said, "There is no historical significance to this well." We thought it was funny that the people writing the plaques and in charge of preserving it thought it was insignificant.
Very soon, all the different dances and performances began. It was really fun to walk around from dance to dance and just watch. When I was photographing a dance I heard a small voice go, "Jeni Behen?" and it was our children from the Tejgadh school! We were so happy they were there. They were there to enjoy the mela and to perform their own dance. I must say, without bias, that they did very well. It was kind of hot out and some of them were wearing their sweaters while dancing in the hot sun. Afterwards I was talking to Fender and he was dripping with sweat and I asked if he was hot and he was like, "hunh!" (yes) but he still wouldn't take off his sweater!
We were sitting around when we met Snake Boy. His name wasn't Snake Boy, it started with an N, but I don't remember it now. He had a little baby python in his shirt pocket and would just casually pull it out and play with it. We followed him to the snake charmer and they pulled out all their snakes for us. It was really cool and scary. They made me and Becka hold the baby python. We were too scared to be close to the cobra, so we just looked and took pictures from afar. Then Snake Boy took the python and put it in his mouth! The snake charmer actually was affiliated with Bhasha as well. Many animal rights activists were against snake charmers because they thought it was cruel to the snakes, but then all the snake charmers would lose their livelihoods and their craft would be lost. So to compromise, the snake charmers donate snake venom to the venom banks so if someone gets bitten there will be an antidote. We promised him that we would send him the pictures we took. Snake Boy was really cool. He was really friendlybut not in a creepy or pushy way and he was really mature for his age.
Afterawhile, the heat, sun, and waking up at 6AM started catching up with us. We were looking for more water but all the water that was being sold was from large metal tubs sold by children. We didn't think it was wise to drink it. We had lunch on leaves that were sown together and then wandered around more. We saw some people cracking open coconuts and drinking the milk, so we bought some coconuts. We didn't really know how to crack them open and were kind of embarassed about trying in front of everyone. Snake Boy came over with a baby and sat next to us, just hanging out. Finally, we asked Nita to help us crack open our coconuts and we got the few precious sips. Not fully satisfied we bought some mosambis (they're like oranges) and ate them inside the step wells to cool off.
We were very tired when we left but it was an awesome day. We saw so many different dances and the costumes were great. The women had brilliant saris on and bangles all up and down their arms. The men had turbans on and bow and arrows. Everyone was having so much fun dancing around and watching.
We were very excited to go and we even got up at 6AM! We started off in jeep for the four hour ride to Keleshwari in Panchmahal. It was a very eventful ride with Vipul singing in the back and everyone teasing Manish about how he never talks about his wife. Everytime we mentioned her name he would take his scarf and put it around his ears so he couldn't hear us. On the way, we stopped to watch a giant truck burning. Ironically, it was carrying matches. It was a HUGE fire and every once in awhile there would be a random explosion coming out the sides. There was a great big crowd and when the police and fire department finally came we continued on our way.
When we arrived, people were just arriving. We explored the old step wells and temples scattered around. We were reading the little plaques that were around to explain what each of the ruins were. One of them was describing the "mother-in-law well" and it said, "There is no historical significance to this well." We thought it was funny that the people writing the plaques and in charge of preserving it thought it was insignificant.
Very soon, all the different dances and performances began. It was really fun to walk around from dance to dance and just watch. When I was photographing a dance I heard a small voice go, "Jeni Behen?" and it was our children from the Tejgadh school! We were so happy they were there. They were there to enjoy the mela and to perform their own dance. I must say, without bias, that they did very well. It was kind of hot out and some of them were wearing their sweaters while dancing in the hot sun. Afterwards I was talking to Fender and he was dripping with sweat and I asked if he was hot and he was like, "hunh!" (yes) but he still wouldn't take off his sweater!
We were sitting around when we met Snake Boy. His name wasn't Snake Boy, it started with an N, but I don't remember it now. He had a little baby python in his shirt pocket and would just casually pull it out and play with it. We followed him to the snake charmer and they pulled out all their snakes for us. It was really cool and scary. They made me and Becka hold the baby python. We were too scared to be close to the cobra, so we just looked and took pictures from afar. Then Snake Boy took the python and put it in his mouth! The snake charmer actually was affiliated with Bhasha as well. Many animal rights activists were against snake charmers because they thought it was cruel to the snakes, but then all the snake charmers would lose their livelihoods and their craft would be lost. So to compromise, the snake charmers donate snake venom to the venom banks so if someone gets bitten there will be an antidote. We promised him that we would send him the pictures we took. Snake Boy was really cool. He was really friendlybut not in a creepy or pushy way and he was really mature for his age.
Afterawhile, the heat, sun, and waking up at 6AM started catching up with us. We were looking for more water but all the water that was being sold was from large metal tubs sold by children. We didn't think it was wise to drink it. We had lunch on leaves that were sown together and then wandered around more. We saw some people cracking open coconuts and drinking the milk, so we bought some coconuts. We didn't really know how to crack them open and were kind of embarassed about trying in front of everyone. Snake Boy came over with a baby and sat next to us, just hanging out. Finally, we asked Nita to help us crack open our coconuts and we got the few precious sips. Not fully satisfied we bought some mosambis (they're like oranges) and ate them inside the step wells to cool off.
We were very tired when we left but it was an awesome day. We saw so many different dances and the costumes were great. The women had brilliant saris on and bangles all up and down their arms. The men had turbans on and bow and arrows. Everyone was having so much fun dancing around and watching.
posted by Jenna Furley | 10:29 PM
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