Day 20 - Carnival and Fireworks

I started the day searching the events pages for Delhi looking for festivals to go to.  The Ramlila will be celebrated today at several places.  I chose to go to the Red Fort area.  The celebration there should be pretty large.  There are three pretty large celebrations near the Chandni Chowk Metro station in the evening.  So I decide to go there late afternoon.

Before I left, I wanted to eat something because I had not eatten anything yet.  I went to the Kentucky Fried Chicken store in the South Point Mall.  I ordered 3 chicken breast sticks for 117 rupies.  They were pretty small pieces, but it was ok.  Here is the sign that greets you as you enter.

At about 4:30 pm I took the Metro to Chandni Chowk station and walked outside.  I was in the middle of old Delhi.  I saw so many goats being taken to market area for sale.  People and vehicles were all hurrying this way and that way.




 

In a distance I could see the lights of the Festival grounds with the Red Fort in the background.

As I got closer I could see two Ferris wheels all lit up rotating.  When I walked into the Festival grounds, I saw a carnival like atmosphere with carnival rides and carnival type games of tossing a ball to knock something down for a prize.  There even were a few carnival side shows advertising grotesque humans...a woman dressed like a vampire with vampire teeth, a woman with snake body, etc.  Food stalls selling Indian foods, popcorn, and cotton candy. Peanuts were served in a tube of  old magazine paper and then sprinkled with fresh lime juice.  A haunted house.

After walking through the whole area, I bought what looked like rice crispies with spices served in a bowl for 35 rupees.  It was pretty good.  I got two bowls to that.

About 6:30 pm I picked a seat in front of a stage set up for a Ramayana play and watched people.  There is a VIP air-conditioned tent, a platform with a fan above it for other VIPs.  The area just in front of the stage which was sectioned off for other VIPs with sofas for seating.  There was a large screen next to the VIP stage that showed the stage performance on large screen.

At 8 pm I decided it was time to go to the washroom before the show started.  It was a task trying to find a washroom.  I asked the security police booth.  They directed me to a porta-potty area near the entrance.  I did not know what to expect, but I knew it would be bad.  I had my own toilet paper and baby wipes.  After a few wrong turns, I found a set of ten porta-potties standing on a platform...five facing one way and five facing another way.  One side for men.  Other side for women.  I had to walk through a wet, stinky area to get to the steps going up to the narrow walkway in front of the doors.  I had to lean close to the doors or I may fall off the walkway into the mud.  No handrails.  I  chose a door farther down hoping it would be cleaner than the others.  It was a dirty hole in the floor with a porcelain place to squat.  No toilet paper.  No water to flush.  Who knows where mess went to.  I did my duty and got out of it as soon as I could.  I took a photo after I went a ways away.  They are the blue boxy structures in a distance in the photo.

At 8:30 pm a man started chanting prayers and mantras to god Ram accompanied with drums and the accordion  instrument.  The area was lit up by spot lights coming from a bamboo platform tower in the middle of the audience area.

At 9 pm the show started.  A man read the story of Rama into a microphone and stage actors mimed the play.  It was interesting to watch the play and the audience.  Rama is the avatar of the supreme god Vishnu.  His wife Sita is abducted by King Ravana, a demon.  The play presents teachings of ancient Hindi sages in narrative allegory, interspersed with philosophical and devotional elements. Ram helps to destroy the king of the monkey people.  Ram's younger brother becomes their king.  There are movies and TV serials telling this story. 

At about 10 pm the fireworks started.  Groups of fireworks were spinning in a circle from the ground just 25 feet away.  Fireworks were shot into the sky for the next hour.  Smoke filled the area below the fireworks.  I had to leave.  Smoke was too hard to breathe.  I walked for about half a mile and then looked for a tuk tuk.  It turned out that I went the wrong way.  It took a half hour to get back to the entrance of the Festival.  Then another half hour to get to the Metro station.



The last Metro train was about 11:30 pm..I got on the 11:15 train.  Too close for comfort.  Being stuck in Old Delhi would not be good.  It took about an hour to get back to Eli's house via Metro and tuk tuk.