Elephant Festival Rajasthan

Before putting the travelogue on our “Elephant Corroboree in India” let me put this interesting piece from the letter, dated 1st March 2009, we received from my Indian friend who is now a travel agent employed in Ashoka holidays, which read…


‘India is a land of festivals & fairs’ --- that’s what I inherited and mugged-by-heart during my early essay-writing classes. I never questioned this time-worn expression then. Now, I believe in it. Someone who believes with me in this cliché in the first place, Thank you! For the non-believers I’ll briefly trot out the top attractions of the first two months of the calendar:

•    2 Dance Festivals saw Indian Classical & folk Dances & Music being showcased at Mammalapuram Dance Festival (Tamil Nadu) and Khajuraho Dance Festival (Madhya Pradesh)
•    3 Festivals of the Desert – one each at Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Nagaur.(Rajasthan)
•    A Crafts Mela at Surajkund (Near Delhi)
•    Uttrayan at Ahmedabad (Gujarat), which in common tourists’ lingo is called as ‘International Kite Festival’
•    Partying & Merrymaking at the Goan Carnival

So, by now, we have Kites, crafts, camels, cattle, cuisines, dances, music, carnival  and so on…and the good news is ‘it ain’t over yet’ Add COLORS to  the list for it’s HAPPY HOLI.  And if it’s not enough club it with some 40-odd ELEPHANTS parading and thumping the ground of Chaugan Stadium at Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, the state that will spoil you with reasons to visit it.

Finally, in polite terms, shall I ask you “Where the bloody hell are you?” To make it easy, I have attached the Golden Triangle Tour that could be scheduled around the Festival of Giant Pachyderms on 10th March.

Regards,
Amit "


Putting it straight: The ‘cooee’ worked and there the bloody hell we were on the Golden Triangle tour. A bunch of 4 Aussies, who would easily prefer folk dancers over cheer leaders and cultural show over cricket extravaganza!!
Reason: Elephant Festival clubbed with the usual attractions of the tour – Taj Mahal at Agra, Delhi and Jaipur
Venue: The Old Stadium (The Chaugan Stadium), Jaipur (Rajasthan)
Day & Date: Holi, the Festival of Colors (as per the Hindu calendar), 10th March 2009.


 “PETA notice to Govt on elephant festival: The fate of the famous annual elephant festival of Jaipur, now hangs in balance” It started amidst some doubts, installation of check and prevention measures and subsequent clearance to the festival with –  no cruelty towards the animal will be administered during the event. Elephant races, elephant-polo matches and a tug of war between elephants and men which were all part of this spectacular event till last year were given up. Things didn’t look promising till the d-day. For a person who had been catered these activities in his/her earlier visits, things actually may not have been that much interesting this time. However, for a first-timer like us, the show worked and made good memories.

Open to all, the show began at 4:00 p.m. Before that the organizers made sure guests, especially from outside India, get seated or find themselves a proper location in the stadium from where they can shoot the shot to cherish. Things began, procession and fanfare entered, tempo raised, people without camera got wide-eyed and with camera shrunk their eyes into the view-finder and in their desire to get closest to the celebrations the crowd crossed the bamboo fence meant to limit the enthusiastic spectators and sent back to their respective places. The colorful procession consisted of around 40-odd elephants, beautified for the show and the beauty contest, folk dancers, singers, musicians and ensemble, followed by the camels, the horses, and bullock carts.

Out of the many elephants that paraded eight fully-caparisoned and colored ones made it to the final nomination for the beauty contest with their owner atop and attired in the Maharaja’s regalia. These deserving beauties stood at the centre of the ground and were soon crowded by a mob of photographers, serious and very-serious, wishing to get that ‘life-time’ shot while touching, holding, hugging or kissing the giants. The other animals must have been feeling ignored before this royal mount of the Indian Kings that have been the representing their might and grandeur since ages. Anyway, the rush was booming around the centre of the ground and the view was getting obstructed. The inspectors checked the rush. The photographers soon found other targets which was the following groups of musicians and singers who came to halt after the parade and got dispersed all over the ground.  Soon, the whole scene was bustling with photographers and their performance, as if it was the festival of the shutterbugs. The situation was taken under control after repeated request-full warning from the anchor and the bigger circle of audience now shrunk to a much smaller one. The people who had left their distant seats just to get nearest to the action-site were made to “sit and watch now from where you are”. All settled and the program took off again.

A sufiana vocal by Gazi Khan... got all to a still and pay attention with the accompanying harmonium and dholak, a double headed percussion. He was the famous Manganiyars singer who Amit told had also sung at Liz Hurley’s wedding in Rajasthan. Wow! Her wedding must have been a festival itself.
A very melodious Chang and Daf performance…had 10-12 performers in red-orange kurta, white pajamas and pagris created an amazing aura in the open stadium encircled by a curious audience, attuned to their melody and dance. The performance was dominated by the mellower flute, the subtle sound of the bells, the high-pitched male voice in between. The dancers holding framed drum, called Daf, in their hands moved in circle with swaying their rear and moving softly and rolling over. After a few rounds they would huddle around the singer.  
The Dandiya dancers...were a group of teenage boy, all turned out elegantly in white kurta and the lungi topped with orange turban and holding sticks in their hands. They stood in circle, paired and struck the sticks, changed their position etc.
The wheeling Ghoomar dance ...a dance that usually grace any festival, fair, wedding or any cultural event of the desert state, performed by the girls dressed in colorful, embellished and embroidered long Rajasthani skirts (Ghaghara) and veils. In sync they were twirling gracefully to a rhythmic beats of the dholak, a double headed drum. They wore all colors, pink, blue, green, yellow, orange et al. It was a sight to see the radiating and swirling colors when the tempo of the dance increased.  

A ‘Ras Lila’ thematic dance performance by dancers dressed like human and peacock as well. It represented the divine dance of Lord Krishna, in the forest, with his beloved Radha and her sakhis (friends) and the peacock and other creatures of the jungle.

We WON the Tug-of-war ... and a small elephant each as our winning token and trophies. We were a team formed of guests, the foreigners, and we defeated the group of Mahouts in 2 straight sets out of 3. It was a friendly match but a match is a match. The winning moment when we pulled the opponents consecutively for the second time were all came together and celebrated as if we have won the world cup. We were pictured and congratulated by all.
 
The elephant festival had picked the momentum by now. There were few other swirling dances, the hypnotic desert musical performances and a grand exhibition of the colorful Rajasthani attires. The thing that it overlapped the Festival of colors, Holi, only added to its fun and festivities. Towards the end it was the best of both the festivals. It was colors, music, elephants, flowers and wishes – “Holi Mubarak ho or Happy holi!” The lucky we and other guests got the chance to play holi from atop elephants. We played with and threw flowers and gulaal, abeer (color powder) from the top of biggies. The whole crowd, spectators, performers, and organizers too joined the cultural corroboree. The colors blowout against the backdrop of “The Elephant Festival 2009” finally put an end to a colorful, musical, cultural, and also uncontrolled and free-for-all at times evening – of which we were an equal part. What was amazing was how people of all nationalities unmindful of their colored faces got one. Overall, we enjoyed it.

And forgot to mention, “Champakali” was declared the big and the Beautiful.

Also, the next morning was the real holi-day and it was about colors and more colors and feasts at the hotel!!