Jaipur - part VII - the Elephant Festival

We were pretty excited to attend the Elephant Festival. It is a free event held in a large field- cricket pitch maybe? It started with a parade of elephants, camels, horses, and people in weird costumes. There were LOTS of people there, and I hate to guess, but I will say 40% were foreigners. We sat on risers, sort of shallow bleachers, to watch. (altho people were also on the under-construction building next door, for good seats!) There were bands playing too. Unfortunately, the announcer kept asking people to clear the field, but they never did, even after the police showed up. Then, everyone was on the field, including the cops sitting on the grass and ignoring the announcer! We were disappointed that there was no elephant polo - that had been an event in past years, but not this year. :(

There were 4 cameras in action, so we got a real variety of photos - Isaac is fond of the self-portrait function on my old camera!
It was hot, but the sun went down behind the building and then it was just really nice. The elephants were judged - best outfit I think - then people were taking photos and whatever. We were sitting beside a couple of backpackers from Vancouver, so we spent quite a bit of time talking to them about living in India.

this is video - check it out...

These "elephant ears" looking things were for sale - 10 rupees (25 cents) - all over the place - so we tried one. Guys were constantly roaming the crowd. We saw lots of people carrying the baskets on their heads too. They are crispy and don't have much flavour. Of course, we got the ones WITHOUT all the red spice (chili powder?) all over!

I liked seeing the paint jobs on the elephants. I touched the trunk of this one that Alex and Miranda had their photos with (which cost me money of course) and it was unexpectedly soft. We did NOT get a ride. rats. I also like their feet - so weird.
After the judging and awarding of prizes, some foreigners names were picked (I assume they paid someone) to ride on an elephant and "play Holi". Holi is the holiday of colour, and to play Holi is to throw coloured powder on everyone in sight. Frankly, as the one who does the laundry, the appeal is lost on me. But it would be kind of cool to do it 15 feet up on the back of an elephant!

Holi starts in the evening, and goes until 2 pm the next day (or something like that - there is really no definitive answers to these questions, I think - it depends who you ask) More about it in the next blog...

We finally decided that since no one else was leaving the field, we better get down there to see something. When they brought out the Holi colours, we headed for cover. But not fast enough! There was a bit of a breeze...


When it got dark, we headed for the car. Sam encountered some kids, who offered her some colour, so she put it in the one kid's hair, then they got it all over her! I didn't see it - next thing I knew, she was orange.
There was fireworks too. All in all, it was fun, altho we wish there had been polo or races or something to see besides the parade. But, being a free festival, the price was right so we won't complain too much!