Festivals: Festivals are many and confusing here.  You may think that the sales in the west come with far too great frequency, but I don't think I have been shopping yet when I haven't been told that 'today is an auspicious day and I have authority to give you great discount.' :) Yesterday 9 days of festival marked with fasting from meat and onions and garlic ended with Dusshera which focuses on the retelling of the old story of Rama getting his wife back from the villain who stole her (echoes of Helen of Troy).


In time for the festival season film producer Ketan Mehta released a cartoon version of the Rama story: Ramayan.  Instead of the usual depictions of the Gods this movie version has them sporting very muscly torsoes.  One actor commented that to help children establish a connect with the gods, a contemporary look will be helpful. "We have to bring the Gods to the next generation in such a way that when children see them, they should say 'this is God!' kids wouldn't like simple Gods, they want super Gods."'  I hoped this might be a great part of Felix's Indian education and so lobbied to have all three of us go and see it yesterday.  Our wonderful front desk fellow advised which cinema to go to and we made our way to a thriving American style mall (teeming with locals and a slightly higher than normal proportion of non Indians).  Tickets for the matinee were about RS220 each (close to $5) and we were virtually the only chaps there without small children. The movie volume was intense and I was delighted to pull out my earplugs and listen in virtual comfort in the plush reclining seat.  Had we wanted we could have had food delivered to our seats.  Felix finally beat us down to allow him a chicken dog with crispy onions and gherkin, but he fetched it himself in the intermission.  We don't understand more than a few words of Hindi and there were no subtitles, but I think we got most of the story.  Unlike the American Avatar, however, all the avatars in this film didn't have pointed ears, so I am sure we missed many of the subplots.  No doubt at all: the good guy got his girl back and evil was vanquished.  Interestingly this film was billed as a 3D movie.  It was, but somehow in keeping with the ancient story and its historic depictions, the 3D was several 2D layers on top of one another, a bit like those dioramas we used to make in elementary school before anyone knew about computer presentations
Times of India article with pictures
The final day of these nine days is celebrated with a great bonfire and fireworks when the bad guy is ceremoniously incinerated and some famous person gets to shoot off a flaming arrow into the wickerwork figure.  The explosions went on for a few hours around us last night as the evil wife stealer was repeatedly dispatched at different local parks and stadia.

Our hotel has started putting in extra floor decorations in preparation for Diwali (coming up soon).  These are made with marigold flowers, petals and coloured sawdust.  I believe similar pictures are made in the south using coloured sand.  The visual delights are splendid, but I am a bit concerned about Diwali - apparently it is a time to give gifts to everyone - Bert's colleagues need to ensure that investors get gifts and most of our serving staff will expect discrete (actually often very ornate) envelopes too. I wonder if the banks have to issue more crisp new notes at this time of year.  I think for some it is the equivalent of Christmas shopping - the newspapers are full of gift idea.  I should be very grateful, because they only started pushing this idea a  couple of weeks ago.