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Today is the last day of KalaGhoda festival happening in Mumbai. Kalaghoda is the name of the area where it is happening. In hindi Kalaghoda = Kala (Black) Ghoda (Horse). This area was named this because there used to be a statue of a famous freedom fighter sitting on a black horse in the square.
Now the statue has been removed due to protests from some political sections who felt that statue did not do justice to the person who was depicted in the statue. Without that statue the area is still called Kalaghoda....the place feels kinda empty!
I am digressing, back to the festival bit. There are two festivals one week long one that happens in February which is the Arts festival. It is very cool! There are live music performances, rare movie screenings, stalls, games, food, poetry reading, story telling, kid workshops and what not!
You can check out more details here: Really Long Link
Currently a smaller festival of India is going on. It has fewer activities but it still converts the entire Kalaghoda area into a fan fare, fun filled and joyous place. Check out some photos:
Some kids from a local charity performing a play:
This is a good time to be in Mumbai! If you are here do visit this festival.
A few days back, there was a Ganesh Festival in Mumbai. Many parts like Dadar are completely decorated. Moreover there are scores of people who come to these places to worship, and take Ganesha's blessings. The custom is that people at their office, home bring idols of Ganesha god, and do Pooja, rituals etc of it everyday. All relatives and other devotees are welcome to visit these temples. After 5 days or 7 days these idols are taken and put in the sea.
This is the tradition that after a set number of days max 7 days the idol is put in the sea, so the sea can take it away. One condition to doing this is that once you bring this idol it must be brought every year, in that place other wise it is inauspicious. So every year around this time huge Ganesha festival is going on where people bring the idol, worship it and then offer it to the sea.
Worship is done by offering one particular sweet called Modak, putting flowers, singing some bhajans, chanting. Every evening lamp is lit and a particular chant is sung. On the day that the idol has to be offered to the sea, everyone in the family dance and sing all the way to the sea. Coloured powder is thrown on each other and with lot of fan fare the God is bid adieu. One of common songs of this time says "Come quickly next year..."
Lot of commercialization has creeped into it lately, companies sponsor these events and due huge advertizing campaigns. Still the joy and belief of people is evident.
The Bandra Worli Sea Link joins two far off areas in Mumbai via a really cool fly over the sea. It has many hanging bridges which are definitely worth a look!
Some pics
Really Long Link
Mumbai recently had a wall painting project event. A large number of people turned up and made their own unique works of art on a local wall. Some videos...
Really Long Link
Something surprising in Mumbai is the lack of appropriate head gear in scorching Sun. Afternoons can be very hot in Mumbai summertimes, but hardly anyone is wearing a headgear!!
Some head gears that are rarely seen,
[ Click here to read more ]
As in any other metropolis, Mumbai is cluttered with restaurants and eateries. Small ones, big ones, street side joints, roof top places you name it, Mumbai has got it.
A few years back we even got a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
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Its almost the end of hot, sundry days in Mumbai, already it has drizzled for a few days. Now we are all awaiting the monsoons!
Hoping it comes soon and takes this heat off!
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Mumbai recently hosted the UN MDG Summit 2008. Around 300 international delegates were a part of this.
It was hosted at the Jaihind College in South Mumbai. All the participants were divided into 8 groups and each group was assigned one of the 8 MDG's. These 8 MDG's had been fixed by the world leaders in 2000. They wanted to quantify the amount of social outreach being done and thus these 8 goals were set to be achieved by 2015.
Now that we are at the mid-point of the 15 years this summit was to evaluate how much had been done and what more can be done in order to achieve the targets.
[ Click here to read more ]
September 20th 2008 16:11
Mumbai is one of the only places in India that we get Victoria's, this what we call horse buggies.
Many of them are really decorated and lighted. It is real good to sit in one. Especially we get them near the sea side so we can just travel along the sea, in the night. Can be very romantic!
These buggies are found near Gateway of India and Nariman Point. Lot of bargaining can be done with the driver . [ Click here to read more ]
For a newbie to Mumbai the geographics of the city takes some time. Mumbai is mainly sectioned as South Mumbai, Suburbs and New Mumbai.
New Mumbai is actually a different district. It has been developed in the last few years around Mumbai city. It is a pretty big area with a large population.
South Mumbai (where I live) is where Mumbai began. It is a posh area and somewhat dull, it doesn't have much in terms of night life, bars, discos etc compared to the suburbs. But it is a very pretty stretch with the classic Marine Drive Belt, The Gateway of India and other heritage buildings and landmarks.
[ Click here to read more ]
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Comment by Priyanka
on Blogging to the music
Mumbai Corner