WOW. So how do I put the experience we just had into words...crazy, claustrophobic, amazing, overwhelming, fantastic, loud, friendly, athletic, crowded and jubilous would start to describe it I guess. We just experienced what I think might be my new favorite holiday, Krishna Janmashtami. Before I go on, I linked the title of this post to some info on the holiday so you might want to read that first so you have some clue about what I'm talking about. Essentially, it's Krishna's birthday party (one of the Hindu gods) and to celebrate thousands of people go out to the streets to cheer and dance while reenacting one of the more famous stories of Krishna. He and his mischevious friends would find clever ways to steal sweets and goodies from their neighbors homes, including standing on each other's shoulders to reach things stored out of reach. Thus people celebrate by hanging baskets full of curd around the city and making human pyramids to reach them and smash them like a pinata. They actually form official teams and drive around town competing. Certain people and businesses sponser many of the baskets and give out prize money for smashing them so it is quite the competition.
Thats not the crazy part though. So we went out to lunch with a group of folks from school then walked around looking for baskets hoping we would see some pyramids. Everything was pretty calm around our suburb area until we found a street that had a few baskets on it. Not more than two seconds later a bus full of at least 50 or more screaming and cheering young men drove by to attempt a near-by basket smash. If you could imagine a truck load of crazy sports fans cheering and screaming it was a lot like that. They of course loved to have their pictures taken and loved talking to us and getting everyone they could involved in their festivities. So they unload under one of the baskets and the police officers stop traffic so the crowds can gather around and watch them build their human pyramid. They get 5 or 6 layers built but still can't reach, so the crowd agrees to lower the basket (6 levels is apparently the standard height - some baskets will be lowered if they are unreachable and others just make them build a taller pyramid). The best part is that while they are building the pyramid everyone is cheering wildy and the crowd starts throwing water on them to make it more difficult (as if it weren't already). Once they finally break the pot everyone goes crazy and music is blasted from the nearest store and dancing and insanity ensues. The top man on the pyramid gets lifted on the shoulders of the crowd and gets a wad of money to show off and split with his team. Some groups even get trophies for various pots around town and they display them proudly to everyone they see.
After seeing 2 or 3 pots broken (and many more attempts at breaking) we were still pretty much bystanders. We had joined in on some of the dancing and celebrating in the mob but nothing too crazy (a couple of our more veteran teachers got a little more involved and got lifted in the crowd). So we continued walking through town over to Hill Road where there was apparently some bigger festivities happening. When we showed up, there were actually a couple of stages and what looked to be a more formal gathering. They had EXTREMELY loud music blaring in the streets and people were crowded for blocks and blocks in front of these stages waiting to see if a team could reach the baskets that were obviously much much higher than the other 6 person high ones from before. A few groups tried but with no success. Nobody we saw could get above 6 levels. From what it looked like, this specific spot actually had a big cash prize attached to it hence the raised height and all the hype. Apparently there are a few groups that go up to 12 or more levels which probably happened after we left.
So this is where it gets a little crazy. Yes its loud and crowded and a little nuts already but nothing weirder than any other concert or sports activity that we've seen in the US. But all of a sudden a dance party breaks out and we somehow end up in the middle of it and people are getting lifted by the crowd and everyone is cheering and paying attention to us. Ok, that's fine, dancing is fun. When the music stops though, we are still very much the center of attention. People are taking pictures of us, asking to be in pictures with us, shaking our hands and greeting us enthusiastically. They start to crowd in around us and as we start to walk we notice that we actually are creating a hysteric mob of paparazzi-style followers. The more people that crowd in towards us, the more everyone else in the surrounding area wants to see what's going on and who the famous people in the middle of the mob are. The police actually tell us to go away because we are blocking the entire road with our fan group. We try to move away and only make it about 20 feet before we are completely surrounded by people wanting to meet us and take pictures with us. Luckily one of the store owners/stage managers pulls us into a little fenced area behind the stage where we could get away from all the groping and fanfare. They offer us drinks and chairs and we end up sitting in this little fenced in area drinking tea with hundreds of people falling over the fence to take pictures and see who we were. It was hilarious and at the same time a little terrifying. Everyone was so nice though. It's not bad to be stuck in a mob of friendly people who just want to say hello, welcome you to India, and take a picture (and maybe squeeze your butt a little).
So there we sat in our little cage, drinking chai and watching the crowd 5 feet away from us. And of course since were right next to the stage now, they pushed a mic in front of us and asked us to address the crowd. Luckily, our drama teacher Russell stood up to the challenge and started getting the crowd singing and clapping along to our new theme song developed earlier at lunch - "There ain't no party like a Krishna party cause a Krishna party don't stop" (thanks Coolio). After a few more pictures we snuck out the side of the stage and caught a rickshaw home. Ahhh...good times. And of course we took hundreds of pictures and we brought the video camera with us as well so that will be posted soon. We've got school tomorrow and our parent open-house on Tuesday so hopefully I can edit our video footage and get that up in the next couple days. For now there are new photos in our Picassa web album so check it out. Happy birthday Krishna. Can't wait til next year!
क्या कहाना
K&E
Thats not the crazy part though. So we went out to lunch with a group of folks from school then walked around looking for baskets hoping we would see some pyramids. Everything was pretty calm around our suburb area until we found a street that had a few baskets on it. Not more than two seconds later a bus full of at least 50 or more screaming and cheering young men drove by to attempt a near-by basket smash. If you could imagine a truck load of crazy sports fans cheering and screaming it was a lot like that. They of course loved to have their pictures taken and loved talking to us and getting everyone they could involved in their festivities. So they unload under one of the baskets and the police officers stop traffic so the crowds can gather around and watch them build their human pyramid. They get 5 or 6 layers built but still can't reach, so the crowd agrees to lower the basket (6 levels is apparently the standard height - some baskets will be lowered if they are unreachable and others just make them build a taller pyramid). The best part is that while they are building the pyramid everyone is cheering wildy and the crowd starts throwing water on them to make it more difficult (as if it weren't already). Once they finally break the pot everyone goes crazy and music is blasted from the nearest store and dancing and insanity ensues. The top man on the pyramid gets lifted on the shoulders of the crowd and gets a wad of money to show off and split with his team. Some groups even get trophies for various pots around town and they display them proudly to everyone they see.
After seeing 2 or 3 pots broken (and many more attempts at breaking) we were still pretty much bystanders. We had joined in on some of the dancing and celebrating in the mob but nothing too crazy (a couple of our more veteran teachers got a little more involved and got lifted in the crowd). So we continued walking through town over to Hill Road where there was apparently some bigger festivities happening. When we showed up, there were actually a couple of stages and what looked to be a more formal gathering. They had EXTREMELY loud music blaring in the streets and people were crowded for blocks and blocks in front of these stages waiting to see if a team could reach the baskets that were obviously much much higher than the other 6 person high ones from before. A few groups tried but with no success. Nobody we saw could get above 6 levels. From what it looked like, this specific spot actually had a big cash prize attached to it hence the raised height and all the hype. Apparently there are a few groups that go up to 12 or more levels which probably happened after we left.
So this is where it gets a little crazy. Yes its loud and crowded and a little nuts already but nothing weirder than any other concert or sports activity that we've seen in the US. But all of a sudden a dance party breaks out and we somehow end up in the middle of it and people are getting lifted by the crowd and everyone is cheering and paying attention to us. Ok, that's fine, dancing is fun. When the music stops though, we are still very much the center of attention. People are taking pictures of us, asking to be in pictures with us, shaking our hands and greeting us enthusiastically. They start to crowd in around us and as we start to walk we notice that we actually are creating a hysteric mob of paparazzi-style followers. The more people that crowd in towards us, the more everyone else in the surrounding area wants to see what's going on and who the famous people in the middle of the mob are. The police actually tell us to go away because we are blocking the entire road with our fan group. We try to move away and only make it about 20 feet before we are completely surrounded by people wanting to meet us and take pictures with us. Luckily one of the store owners/stage managers pulls us into a little fenced area behind the stage where we could get away from all the groping and fanfare. They offer us drinks and chairs and we end up sitting in this little fenced in area drinking tea with hundreds of people falling over the fence to take pictures and see who we were. It was hilarious and at the same time a little terrifying. Everyone was so nice though. It's not bad to be stuck in a mob of friendly people who just want to say hello, welcome you to India, and take a picture (and maybe squeeze your butt a little).
So there we sat in our little cage, drinking chai and watching the crowd 5 feet away from us. And of course since were right next to the stage now, they pushed a mic in front of us and asked us to address the crowd. Luckily, our drama teacher Russell stood up to the challenge and started getting the crowd singing and clapping along to our new theme song developed earlier at lunch - "There ain't no party like a Krishna party cause a Krishna party don't stop" (thanks Coolio). After a few more pictures we snuck out the side of the stage and caught a rickshaw home. Ahhh...good times. And of course we took hundreds of pictures and we brought the video camera with us as well so that will be posted soon. We've got school tomorrow and our parent open-house on Tuesday so hopefully I can edit our video footage and get that up in the next couple days. For now there are new photos in our Picassa web album so check it out. Happy birthday Krishna. Can't wait til next year!
क्या कहाना
K&E
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