Manali Winter Carnival, Jan 2003

What to do in the long winter months in Manali? Not that many years ago there was no television around - now ubiquitous - to keep people amused.. Therefore 20 odd years ago, the director of the Mountaineering Institute thought up the Manali Winter Carnival to keep people entertained for a week. In the first few years it was only a small local event. Nowadays though, groups come from as far as Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai or the Punjab.

Feeling the cold at Hadimba Temple

©neoncarrot
Group from Madhya Pradesh

On the first day all groups, participants and a lot of spectators met at the Hadimba Temple in Dunghri, a very shady place due to the big deodar trees of the forest; pleasant in summer, icy cold in winter. The different groups and people came in various disguises or traditional dresses, or in the case of a group from Mumbai with no clothes at all apart from some kind of grass skirts and grass hats. Those poor buggers, you could see them shivering, after they had a short break from their frantic dancing exercises. The women’s group from Madhya Pradesh (not a place known for its freezing temperatures), didn’t fare much better and were not really clad for Manali’s winter climate. Thin sarees, short sleeved blouses and tin pots on their heads. Beautiful to look at, but at the same time I couldn’t help thinking about the 3 jumpers I was wearing.

	©neoncarrot
	Punjabi dancer

Several Punjabi dancers were energetically whirling around in their colourful dresses. Mock wedding parties were popular this year, the grooms easily recognisable by their necklaces of bank notes. There were also plenty of women dressed up as men, false moustaches and beards in abundance.

The majority of the many local groups were wearing more appropriate clothes with regard to the weather conditions. A lot of them came with the attire of the gaddi tribe (shepherds who drive big flocks of sheep and goats up the mountains in spring and stay there during the summer months, living there under hard and basic conditions). Rough woollen coats and blankets, tied at the waist with a rope, kept the people warm; carrying a kind of rucksack made of goat skin made them look authentically tribal.

Procession down to New Manali

©neoncarrot
Save the wildlife

Everybody was waiting for the government minister, who was supposed to open the ceremony and start the procession. Of course, as always with politicians, the minister was late. Eventually he came, paid homage to the goddess Hadimba and the parade could start. The various groups on foot, a lot of trailers depicting different scenes (i.e. illegal poaching of wild life, a temple attack, people sentenced to death by hanging etc.) were joined by loads of baa-ing sheep and goats. The procession wound its way down the curvy road from Dunghri to New Manali. I hadn’t seen the town, normally sleepy in winter, so busy before, the streets so stuffed with onlookers that it took 10 minutes to cross the road.

Entertainment...

	©neoncarrot
	Spectators at Ram Bagh

Later on crowds of people flocked to Ram Bagh (also called Nehru Park), a small amphitheatre, where for the next week a cultural programme would entertain the winter weary population. Lots of speeches, traditional dances, music groups, fashion shows etc. On the last day the Winter Carnival concluded with the distribution of a seemingly endless stream of prizes for all kinds of achievements (including one for best behaviour!).