Even though the State Bank of India in Manali has recently been renovated and looks quite flash now with its many computers and different counters, it still doesn't do any credit card transactions for foreign currency. For that we have to go to Mandi, about 120 km south of Manali, a 3 to 4 hour bum massaging bus ride. The Bank of Baroda, which handles both visa and master card cash transactions, is only one of Mandi's positive aspects. Another one is the sunken garden, a spacious grassy area in the middle of the main shopping complex in front of the old palace. The sunken garden has been redone, for about 2 to 3 years it had resembled more a bomb site, but now it's almost finished. It hasn't been officially inaugurated yet though, since there seems to be a tug of war going on between different politicians and parties. Everyone wants to lead the inauguration ceremony to boost their popularity with the Mandi population... so nothing happens instead.

13/05/03 Kullu's telecommunications office

To renew our internet account we go to Kullu's telecommunications office. We are accompanied by Judith, a friend who lives at the Kullu ashram, and Razor, her German shepherd dog. Relationships between Indians and dogs are at best frosty, basically because most Indians treat dogs like, well they treat them like dogs: kick them, shoo them away, beat them. So often Indians feel strong when they see a small manky skinny intimidated street dog creature. But Razor is fully grown, well fed, strong looking and not at all happy being tied to a pole and left outside the telecommunications office - he is barking like mad. Some Indians look scared, all pass remarks that our dog is barking (as if we were deaf!). My attempts to sit by him and shut him up fail miserably, so in the end I let him go. He races upstairs to the office, in which Woody and Judith go through the normal procedure of waiting, filling out forms, waiting, answering a question or two, waiting... I follow slowly and pass a few people looking shaken and baffled remarking "I think, you lost your dog." As long as Judith is around, Razor is well behaved, nonetheless the looks she and her dog receive range from nervous, incredulous, disgusted uncomprehending to shit scared.

14/05/03 orchards

It ought to be high season now and crawling with Israelis. But Manali is pretty dead, maybe to do with the police, maybe with the weather, which is fairly awful. Summer doesn't seem to want to start properly. Often rain, cold in the evenings. Nonetheless vegetation in the orchards is exploding : green everywhere, the paths start to become overgrown, branches of cherry trees look like they're about to snap from the weight of the cherries, which will be ripe in one to two weeks. Unfortunately the rubbish proliferates as much as the greenery.

15/05/03 Hadimba goes to Dunghri

Tomorrow the celebrations for Goddess Hadimba's birthday are going to start in Dunghri. Today she is being brought up from Manu Temple in Old Manali to the approximately 500 year old Hadimba Temple in Dunghri forest. She is audibly accompanied by her band and the Gur, while she does a "round" through the village, stopping at several houses where women give some flower offerings. The main village road and later the bridge are blocked by taxis and rickshaws whose drivers are their usual self by trying to squeeze past where you just can't squeeze past and so create the typical Indian absolutely unnecessary traffic jam.

16/05/03 Chota Dunghri mela

The first day of Hadimba's birthday celebration is the chota (small) Dunghri mela. Not much seems to be happening when we arrive; there are the usual unnaturally snow white rabbits on display by local women who want you to have a picture taken with them, plus a lot of temporary stalls selling anything from plastic buckets to keyrings and of course popular jalebis and pakoras. Late afternoon Hadimba Devi and Andrasi Devi, a guest goddess from Barkar (a village near Naggar) arrive on the ground. Other guest devtas and devis (village gods and goddesses) arrive later, most of whom go back home for the night to return for the next day.

17/05/03 Bara Dunghri mela

The "big" festival day attracts huge crowds of people. Hadimba Devi's guests are lined up on a podium. Sometimes they all get up either to go to Gadothkatsh, the god in form of a tree, a son of Hadimba and Bhima, to pay their respect or to have a kind of public meeting in the middle of the ground to voice and show their anger (in a highly temperamental way) about walls and fences around the Hadimba Temple area. Spectators watch for hours the Nati, the traditional slow moving dance, performed by people from the visiting villages . Late afternoon when the "birthday party" in Dunghri finishes, some gods barge through the crowds to pick up their respective band members and dancers.

18/05/03 Manali festival

After two days in Dunghri the celebration continues in Manali at the Manu Temple. Unlike previous years no guest gods are there this time. After volleyball competitions in the morning, Hadimba Devi’s statue is placed on the podium, where villagers come up to her to pay their respect. The traditional dancers have quite a nice backdrop here overlooking the roofs of the village plus the hillside and mountains behind. This year's tombola at the end of the day doesn't include a first prize of a much craved for scooter (as last year) but just a mere colour TV. And of course: another essential feature of the festival: copious consumption of intoxicating fluids! You can hear it, see it, smell it!

Kirsten jun 2003	<< previous next >>
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