Dussehra Festival

From the 9th to 16th of this month The Kullu Valley celebrated the Dussehra festival in its typically elaborate style. In fact this region is famous all over India for it's special Dussehra celebration, Gods from surrounding villages and valleys have their big week out here. Each village carries their God to the ground at Kullu on foot to meet the local King and go camping for a week. It's incredible to see all the Gods arriving and roaming around the fair ground. The gods all have their individual personalities and many don't like each other, a fact which apparently resulted in several of them getting arrested last year. There seemed to be less trouble this year however, and all the locals came to see their gods and shop.

In addition to the religious aspect the Dussehra also comprises of a massive market with stalls selling everything from local clothing and food products, to cheap chinese imported clothes and household items. There is a huge fairground with a variety of rides, including the motorbike wheel of death, all of which look rather precariously below European health and safety standards but are enjoyable for the kids nevertheless, who don't worry about these things. There is a brilliant local food area serving up the local stuffed, steamed flour patties called sidu in addition to plenty of momos, chowmein, tikki and pizza.

On the last day of the festival, myself and six of the vocational boys staying with Sudershana took a day trip to visit the Bijli Mahadev temple and the Dussehra. Bijli Mahadev sits at 2,450 metres ontop of a hill with stunning views of all the surrounding valleys. At the end of the road you take a 45 minute walk up through pine forests to reach the viewpoint at the top. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the oldest in the valley and a very important site for Hindus.

We had a really good day despite the rain in the morning and luckily the clouds cleared when we reached the temple and we could see accross the valleys and down to the Dussehra ground with all its tents and stalls. The boys really enjoyed the chance to see this important monument and perhaps even more going around the huge market to browse round the stalls and also see and mingle with the crowds of people and take advantage of the activities there.