Went for a walk up the temple first thing with Johnie. It was a beautiful morning and it was great to see the sunrise and sit and natter for a few hours and just chill.
On the way back to Johnie's house we saw loads of Hindu's on their pilgrimage to the festival (Bokkapuram Mariamman Temple festival) just down the road from his house. The festival is in celebration of Mariaman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariamman). Many of them were carrying arrangements of yellow and orange flowers and had walked a long way to get to the festival with their offerings.
Bokaporum, the village where Johnie lives, normally has a population of a few hundred but this increases to hundreds of thousands for the 5 days of the festival. People are bussed in from all over the area. It is unfortunate that there are no public toilets or rubbish bins provided by the local government and the clean up operation afterward takes a long time and is generally finished by local businesses who want the area to look beautiful for paying guests at the lodges.
The festival goers use the river to wash and bathe and the surrounding countryside to go to the toilet for the duration of the event. Unfortunately access to Johnie's property is only possible along this route and the smell increased badly over the 5 days.
Went for a nap when we returned to Johnie's house and then in the afternoon we headed down to see what was happening at the festival. Unfortunately we had not got our acts together an by the time that we got there the light was going and so the photos were not as amazing as they should have been.
We went from the festival out for a drink at Johnie's local - a resort called Jungle Retreat. It was good to meet some of his friend there.
It is a great local. Very nicely done up inside. The Indians that work there speak better English than I do (not difficult really). The buffet was fantastic.
After jungle retreat we went back to the festival to see what was happening in the evening. We went to one of the most amazing things I have ever seen - bikes and cars driving on walls!!! It is called the Wall of Death! It is difficult to explain without seeing it with your own eyes.... There is metal structure made of scaffolding containing a barrel-shaped wooden cylinder. It is several meters high. The wooden slats on this Indian structure look like they are rotten and there are several parts of the structure where the slats are missing. The audience climb up the stairs to the platform over looking the cylinder. Once there is a certain number of people watching they close the entrance and the show starts. Within about 5 seconds the motorbikes have started and the guys are driving them round and round the inside of the cylinder on the walls of the structure. The whole structure shakes and it is utterly terrifying even for the audience let alone the drivers of the motor bikes. Within about 1 minute there were 4 motorbikes and 2 cars all circling the cylinder. The main performer on a bike road round snatching money from members of the audience holding out notes from the platform above. They guys on the bikes did additional tricks like sitting sidesaddle and riding with no hands. The guys driving the cars lent out of the windows of the car and steered with their feet. They were absolutely INSANE!! It was amazing to watch..... Only in India would they do such things with out even helmets and with a shaking structure and broken wooden slats on the walls.
The rest of the festival was great too. There are robots where you can put in a little change and they will read out your fortune to you in Hindi. There are also tarot card readers. A parrot or a guinea pig is let out of a cage and is trained to chose the cards from a pack. Whichever cards creature chooses are the ones which are applicable to you.In true Indian fashion, everyone wanted their photo taken and as always I was more than happy to oblige. There was loads of chanting, drumming and dancing going on. The same people that I saw this morning walking to the festival were still walking around with their hats of flowers. This time they had a massive crowd following them.
Many people that attend the festival also sleep there. Some people have tarpaulin tents but most people just sleep under blankets and next to fires. The festival carries on late into the night - we left about 1am. There were still loads of children running around. They do not seem to adhere to the same idea of bedtime for children as we do in the UK.
I do love the signs in India. This sign says "Name in Keachein" rather than Keychain. Better spelling than even I could manage......There are loads of good photos from this festival:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112614&id=1408960696&l=cca793e1e0
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