I took the 9 O Clock train from Borivali to Nausari, a small village-town in Gujarat, just a little northwards of Valsad, when Monika was gracious enough to invite me to her place for the Diwali Celebrations with her familiy.
A nice little place with small town patterns of life, a great bustly market (more so thanks to Diwali and the Gujarati New Year Celebrations) , A temple with all the town descending on it to pray to hail the new year, a nice little lake called dudhiya talab, some fairs sprinkled about selling lots of beautiful handpainted pottery and similar merchandise.
Celebrating Diwali meant Pooja rituals and lighting fireworks (I know thats not environmentally friendly, but it feels OK to do it in a small town..Its a hard thing to explain) Next day was primarily dedicated to sleeping away the travel fatigue and washing the Diwali smoke down, and in the evening Monika took the lead to organize a jam at Lunsi park, a central kind of place and a hangout for all the youth of the town. With her usual spirit and her friends all there to support us, I started playing.
In not much time, people were quick to shed their inhibitions and join in with the fun-an honest, simple kind of fun of singing together! And we had classy cheers after each song and I felt like some rock god (!) playing in this small town..This kind of thing makes you think that skill is really a very relative thing...
There was some sharing of numbers, everyone was interested to know when we'll be back and everyone liked it. Told a bit about the concept, but the effects illustrated the objectives of the movement, so it did not matter much.. It was good to notice some appreciative Parsi people stop by and admire, though they did not particiapte.
While on the way back, a high point was getting to eat a gola from a laaree (thela) (streetcart), which is a palate full mounded crushed ice covered with flavours as many and in the colours of the rainbow, topped, ladies and gentlemen, with bizarre nuts! who said caviar is the the most exquisite dish in the world??!!
Here are the pics:
The west side of Nausari station
A fair like atmosphere in front of the temple
Diwali night!
A sort of jetty-park into the Dudhiya Talab
A nice little place with small town patterns of life, a great bustly market (more so thanks to Diwali and the Gujarati New Year Celebrations) , A temple with all the town descending on it to pray to hail the new year, a nice little lake called dudhiya talab, some fairs sprinkled about selling lots of beautiful handpainted pottery and similar merchandise.
Celebrating Diwali meant Pooja rituals and lighting fireworks (I know thats not environmentally friendly, but it feels OK to do it in a small town..Its a hard thing to explain) Next day was primarily dedicated to sleeping away the travel fatigue and washing the Diwali smoke down, and in the evening Monika took the lead to organize a jam at Lunsi park, a central kind of place and a hangout for all the youth of the town. With her usual spirit and her friends all there to support us, I started playing.
In not much time, people were quick to shed their inhibitions and join in with the fun-an honest, simple kind of fun of singing together! And we had classy cheers after each song and I felt like some rock god (!) playing in this small town..This kind of thing makes you think that skill is really a very relative thing...
There was some sharing of numbers, everyone was interested to know when we'll be back and everyone liked it. Told a bit about the concept, but the effects illustrated the objectives of the movement, so it did not matter much.. It was good to notice some appreciative Parsi people stop by and admire, though they did not particiapte.
While on the way back, a high point was getting to eat a gola from a laaree (thela) (streetcart), which is a palate full mounded crushed ice covered with flavours as many and in the colours of the rainbow, topped, ladies and gentlemen, with bizarre nuts! who said caviar is the the most exquisite dish in the world??!!
Here are the pics:
The west side of Nausari station
A fair like atmosphere in front of the temple
Diwali night!
A sort of jetty-park into the Dudhiya Talab
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