Ganapati (part 2)

The tenth day of Ganapati was also the day we returned from Hampi, so the day started late, after noon. Genevieve (G) and I were invited by one of my host brother's friends to go hang out at an apartment on Laxmi Road, where the roads were blocked off for the festival. My host dad took me as far as his scooter could go before the road block, and while we waited for G to show up I snapped a couple of pictures of some people on the outskirts of the festival, who were dancing and drumming covered in pink powder.

Enjoying the festival

After G arrived, my host dad led us through the street toward the main part of the festival. Along the way, we saw several Ganapati mandir-floats (much less elaborate than the ones we'd see later) and lots of stands selling food and small gifts, including these horror/ghost masks. I asked my host dad about what they meant, and he just said they were fun touristy trinkets, since the festival brought many people in from small villages who didn't have access to such things. So, apparently there's no symbolism, but lots of kids were wearing them.

Masks for sale

We also saw a large group marching in front a Ganapati mandir-float drumming on dhoms and hoisting flags. We saw a lot of both of those things throughout the night, and I was impressed by how much energy everyone had to keep that up for hours at a time.

The drums are called "dhoms" which might be an onomatopoeia

We met up with the people who invited us, and they took us further through the festival toward their apartment. We met the family and had a tea break in which we sat on the balcony and watched the festivities on either side of the alley the balcony looked out to. We saw drummers and mandir-floats on each side, and also people-watched the people in the alley.

We had a great view from the balcony.

Then we went down to the festival. At this point the sun was starting to set, but the best mandir-floats of the day started going by. I took some pictures, but zoom lenses, low light, and nothing to brace myself on makes blurry images, unless I'm right up next to the mandir.

A Ganapati idol in a Mandir.

At this point, though, the mandir-floats were playing dance music. G, our friends we were staying with, and I were pulled into the dancing. In order to stay with them, I ended up dancing in the crowd of girls, which led to some confusion because people were working hard to keep men and women separate when dancing. But other than that, it was a lot of fun. The music was a lot like American EDM but with some more interesting beats. It was way fun to dance to!

They kept telling us (in English) to put our hands up. (Oontz oontz oontz.)

We took a brief dinner break, where we all got roasted corn from a street vendor. It may have been the most delicious thing I had tasted after all that dancing; it was roasted corn brushed with salt, lemon, and red chili. I'm going to have to make some myself when I get home. Then we returned back to our friends house to eat dinner for real, which was delicious and pilaf. G made friends with a little girl in the family, and the three of us watched from the balcony some more. G went back for more dancing; I was exhausted so I watched House with another of the women in the family. When it was inching toward midnight, I went back out to join the others in dancing. We ended up in a circle dancing, until it was 12:00 and they had to shut off the recorded music. G and I slept over at our friend's place.

Laxmi road at night.

Throughout the night, though, people kept playing the dhoms and at 6:20 am the recorded music turned back on too. The whole last two days of the festival is 48 hours of straight dance-partying! And I thought Dance Marathon was a long party.
And now for you, dear readers, to share: What's the bumpin'est party you've ever attended?