As you've probably gathered from this blog, India is a land of many festivals. Near my home there are two mandirs (Hindu temples) and whenever there is a festival there are many small shops selling the requisite items for worship, such as brightly coloured cloth and garlands of flowers. It seems to me that there is a festival of one kind or another every second week, much to my delight.
The festival of Navaratri (meaning nine nights) is celebrated four times a year. The biggest version is in October-November, but the March-April one is pretty cool too. There are nine forms of the Mother Goddess, and a different form is worshipped on each of the nine nights. During the festival, households invite nine small girls and one small boy into their homes and ceremonially feed them. The little girls represent the nine forms of the goddess. It's a delight to walk the streets during this time as there are loads of obliging young girls going to various houses to be fed, all dressed in their finest and brightest clothes.
On the last day of Navaratri, huge tents are set up thoughout the city by members of each mandir. They provide free food to everyone, regardless of age and sex. When I walked to my bus stop that day, the tent for the free food was so huge that it completely covered the footpath, forcing all the people going to the bus stop to walk along the road. Mind you, that's not unusual in Delhi, it was just unusual in that particular place!
Because of all the free food being handed out around town, many of the local food vendors in my area simply shut up shop for the day. After all, how could they compete with tasty FREE food being handed out on every street? It was the first time I had ever seen them shut. But then India is full of surprises!
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