Kala Ghoda Festival, in Bombay Options

[Rumali Roti]

I caught the tail end (sorry, bad pun) of this festival, while on a trip to Mumbai last year.

Can any Mumbaikars report on happenings/highlights from this year?

This post has been edited by roshna: Jan 15 2005, 12:16 AM

[hibiscus]

Long shot - does anyone know anything about the Jan '06 festival? Dates? Any programme highlights? They should be into the planning of it by now, no?

The organisers have been emailed but haven't replied yet.

[polarmate]

Some pics from the Kala Ghoda festival of Jan 2003 that I attended

A stall that one of my friends sponsors by working closely with artisans from Orissa. She channels all the earnings back to their village:


Dombaryacha khel:

[Anjali]

Polarmate (or do you prefer P'Matey, as your twin calls you? ),

Those are great pictures. Does one still get to see dombaryache khel in Pune or bombay? outside festivals, that is?

This post has been edited by Anjali: Nov 30 2005, 12:24 AM

[Pratibha]

This is amazing. I mean we all have seen this dombaryacha khel many times in India. But when you actually think about it, it is hair-raising. They do this without any safety net. Even the tiny tots.
Great pictures polarmate. Have you tried to brighteen it up a bit with photoshop or some other tool?

[polarmate]

pratibha, do you want me to brighten the pictures? These are as is - just resized quickly. For some reason, my camera adds a reddish tinge to pics taken in low light. I have a bunch more of this dombaryacha khel. I will post these as thumbnails later. It was 3 generations at work. The woman in the pic was the granma, her son was beating the drum, her d-i-l was doing some stunts and her 2 grandkids were also involved. The 10 yr old son leaped through a hoop that had burning knives around it. And the littlest was about 4 years old and she did some simple tricks.

Anjali, the PMatey is a sign of my hitherto unknown malayali roots.

[shahpar]

why is it called Kala Ghoda?
-shahpar

[Anjali]

Shahpar, it refers to an equestrian monument of King Edward VII in black granite, a statue that was donated by Sir Alfred Sassoon in commemoration of the King’s visit to India and to Mumbai in 1876.
The statue is no longer there but the name persists.

[Anjali]

I just looked through the website of the festival that hibiscus had linked to, and how I wish I was there at that time. Rushina, I hope you go there and give us extended reports and pictures. To echo Roshna's query, any other ASers likely to be in Mumbai at that time and who will be at this scene?

[Rumali Roti]

Shahpar,

Check this out.

[polarmate]

More pics:
Get your name written on a grain on rice:


Get the beat going for the dombaryacha khel:


Granny balances on a slat of wood atop a vodka bottle:


Then has her grandson tossed to her shoulders:


The littlest one does some tricks:


Strong granny heaves her son over her and holds him up:

[polarmate]

Two more:
D-i-l prepares the ring of fire:


Kid leaps through the ring of fire:

[gingerly]

this is great,polarmate!

[kristin]

Wow! The powerful granny looks so young. How old do you think she is, Polar Mate?

kristin

[shahpar]

thanks so much everyone for the background information and the lovely photos!

polarmate -- great job!

-shahpar

[hibiscus]

Just heard: The '06 festival is to be Feb 4-12; further details TBA.

[hima]

yikes - super granny!

[shyama]

PMatey, those are lovely alltogether. The pics and the entire scenario. Has anybody seen the Kala Ghoda folk dance of Orissa, also called Pasu Nritya thereabouts? We have something similar to the Pasu Nritya, with definite Tamil roots as the etymology suggests which we call Poy Kuthira( Poy=lie/pseudo Kuthira=horse). They call it Poikkal Kuthirai ATTam in T.Nadu.

[polarmate]

kristin, the family was a very young family. The granny is one of those women who sort of freeze in time and never grow old. I'd say she was in her late 30s or early 40s. This was in 2003 and it was their second time at the Kala Ghoda festival. I remember my friend was very upset that the children were not getting an education - she'd met them the previous year, too - and was trying to get the family to understand that the children need to, at the very least, learn how to read and write. She offered to help but they didn't seem to want any part of it.

shyama, these pics are from Jan 2003. And no, there wasn't anything like the Kala Ghoda folk dance there. The name Kala Ghoda in this case is for the area where the festival is held each year. Interesting about the dance, though.

[hibiscus]

Shyama, Goa has a traditional dance called the GhoDeymoDNi, the same "dummy horse" dance.

PS: Polarmate, excellent pictures!

This post has been edited by hibiscus: Nov 30 2005, 09:05 PM

[frangipani]

It's there in Rajasthan and Gujarat too, right? The Kacchhi Ghodi dance?

[jayanti]

She's quite a granny! Thanks for sharing the pictures, polarmate.

[shyama]

Ok, so GhoDeyMoDNi=Kachche GhoDi=Poykkal Kuthirai ATTam=Poy Kuthira. Great! Nothing from the bongs here though?

PMate, I get it, the Kala GhoDa at Mumbai takes its name from a different context alltogether. Was just curious about the Marathi situation here.

[Pratibha]

[polarmate]

Pratibha, the originals are locked away somewhere either on a CD or on a computer that won't boot or hasn't yet been plugged in. (Just moved and still in boxes except for my kitchen!) I don't think brightening these resized images will help much.

[Sue Darlow]

So you know what the black horse statue looked like in situ -

[Pratibha]

[Sue Darlow]

Pratibha, here's a close up of the equestrian statue -



Sorry about the delay!

Sue

[Pratibha]

Sue, Thank you.

[hibiscus]

Just got the festival programme:

THE TIMES OF INDIA (apparently they are everywhere)
KALA GHODA ARTS FESTIVAL 2006


CHILDRENS FESTIVAL, theme: dreams; venue, Rampart Row carpark

Art & Craft workshops, story reading, singing, dance, puppet shows etc

Timings: Weekdays from 2pm – 6pm
Weekends from 11am – 6pm


CINEMA FESTIVAL, theme: Women in Cinema

Venues: Max Mueller Bhavan; K R Cama Hall

Screenings of: Umrao Jaan, Paromita, Amu, Chandni Bar, Arth, Bhumika, Khamosh Paani, Charulata, Hunterwaali, Black, God Mother, Elizabeth, Bend it like Beckham, Bridget Jones Diary, Thelma & Louise, Amelie, The good Girl, My Fair Lady, Kill Bill, Winters Song, Persona etc…

Finale: At Horniman Gardens with 10 minute films of 4 Women Film Directors.
[Konkona Sen Sharma, Indrayani Mukherjee, Jenny Pinto & Nistha Jain]

Timings: Weekdays from 2pm – 10pm
Weekends from 11pm – 6pm


DANCE FESTIVAL presented by MAHESH MAHBUBANI

Venues: Rampart - Row for & M. C. Ghia Hall for workshops

Times: Performances at Rampart Row 7pm onwards

Performances By: Nritarutya– Indian contemporary
Nrityanjali – Folk Dance
Namita Bodagi – Bharat Natyam
Rockstars Dance Co. – Bollywood
Naadroop Dance Co. – Kathak
Indrani Lele Dance Co. – Folk
Danceworx – Jazz
Uma Dogra – Kathak
Terence Lewis – Modern Dance

Workshops: Mirabelle D’ Cruz, Terrence Lewis etc…


HERITAGE WALKS by BOMBAY HERITAGE WALKS

Walks:
Kala Ghoda Walk
TOI–VT Tour
Asiatic Walk
Regal Walk
Oval Walk
Naval Walk

Duration of the walks: 75 – 90 minutes


LITERATURE FESTIVAL presented by SRIRAM RAMANATHAN

Venues: David Sassoon Gardens [Readings]
Elphinstone College – Writing workshops

Readings on
The Dark Horse by Gowri Ramnarayan & group,
A talk with Shantaram By Gregory David Roberts,
Sufi & other poetry,
Short Stories from around the country,
Fresh off the Shelf – recently launched books,
Performance poetry by Shamsheed Khan from UK, etc

Workshops: Fiction writing for beginners & advanced by Neeru Nanda.

Timings: Weekdays from 4 – 10 pm

The literature & writing section will also have special events such as:
Poetry on the move by John Agard
Literary film screenings at the David Sassoon gardens from the 6th – 10th Feb
Bonto Verse & SMS poetry competitions


MUSIC FESTIVAL presented by SMOKE MUSIC; Theme: Fusion

Venues
Gateway of India or Azad Maidan, NGMA auditorium & Jazz by the Bay, Amphitheatre – Rampart Row

Performances
Dhruv Ghanekar band, Kailash Kher, Sanjay Divecha, Ranjit Barot, Bombay Black, Zero, Taufique Querishi & Band, Alms for Shanti, Parikrama, Ali Azmat, Eric Truffaz, Koop, Shri Live Band, Indian Ocean, Amit Heri, Young Masters… etc

Workshops
Salim Suleiman – Film scoring
Ashish Manchanda – Mixing
Ranjit Barot – Drums
Ehsaan Loy – Advertising to Films

Timings: 4pm – 10 pm daily


THEATRE FESTIVAL - QUASAR PADAMSEE

Venues: Horniman Circle Gardens, Indigo

Timings, Weekdays from 4 pm – 10 pm, Weekends from 2pm – 10 pm

Plays : Hamlet, Jasma Odhan, katha Kollage 2, Shakkar Ke Paanch Dane, Butter & Mashed bananas, Master Phoolmani, Ramprahar, Much Ado About Nothing , Fire Face etc…

Supper theatre at Indigo, showcasing Stand up acts, Getting it right & "Art"

Timings, 6 pm – 10 pm


VISUAL ARTS FESTIVAL - CHATTERJEE & LAL

Venues:
Rampart Row pavements, Art Entrance gallery, Chemould Gallery, Bilmat Zeramics, Hacienda, Gallery Beyond, Artists Centre etc…

Timings: Weekdays from 11am- midnight, Weekends from 11am - midnight

Exhibitions:
Outdoor exhibits & projections on buildings & rampart row pavements like the Interactive Crow Project, Tree Feet, the Golden Age of Bollywood, a Field of Flowers, Thangkar Project & History Painting by Rodney Buchanan

Indoor exhibits like the black box project, video art work projects, View of Mumbai at Chemould, Rampart Row & David Sassoon Library Foyer.


HANDICRAFT STALLS - NANCY MENDONSA (approx 20 stalls)

Venue: Lions gate end of Rampart Row

Stalls:
Ceramics, Wrought Iron, Book Stalls, Terracotta Artists, Jute Jewellery, Candles, Aromatherapy, etc
Timings: Weekdays from 11 – 10pm, Weekends from 10 – 10 pm


STREET FESTIVAL presented by Seventy Event Mgmt Services
Food Festival at Horniman Gardens
Impromptu Acts – Amphitheatre
Al Fresco Dining at Rampart Row, Naval Band, Puppet Theatre, Fire Grinders, Stilt Walkers etc

ASSORTED WORKSHOPS presented by LYLA MUNCHERJEE

Venue, M C Ghia Hall, 2 – 5pm daily

Workshops like Tai Chi by Rajesh Menon, Candle making by Tapan or Urvi, Line Dancing & Cha Cha by Khush Chehar, Varli & Madhubani painting by Mughda Dongre, Kite making workshops, Food Workshops etc.