Kala Ghoda Arts Festival - Part 1

I have been attending the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival since its inception in 1999. I was then fresh out of college, had time on my hands, and I loved the opportunity to experience something as different as an Arts Festival in Mumbai. Over the years, I have seen the festival grow, become more popular, the addition of a variety of events offering something of interest to people of all ages. And I have enjoyed attending the festival, year after year..... Discovering something new each time, and of late, opening up an entire new world of art and creativity to my son. I still love attending the festival, and look forward to it each year, but it gives me even more pleasure when my 9 year old son opens the newspaper and yells out – “Amma, the Kala Ghoda festival has started! When are you taking me?”

A beautiful installation with colourful butterflies 

And thus it was, that we spent the weekend at the KGAF.... Saturday was fun, because the crowds hadn’t set in, and we were able to enjoy and appreciate the installations in relative peace.

A note about the art installations... we loved them! They seem to be much better than the ones last year, or maybe it was just that we could peacefully go through them, without being elbowed and bumped into every other minute. However, the disadvantage of being so early was that most of the display information boards weren’t up, and we had to imagine what they stood for. Of course, we enjoyed that too!

Skulls seemed to be the order of the day – probably quite natural, considering the state of our country these days.....

And Samhith, for one, loved looking out for them... and here are some...

Can you count the number of skulls in this one???

This huge one, at Rampart Row, was his favourite. Why? Because it spouted smoke!!! Kids were drawn to it, wondering where the smoke came from, and no one stopped them from approaching it, and tugging on the wires hanging about, hoping it would make the smoke spew out again!

The Kala Ghoda was nowhere to be seen... its place was taken by a Kali Bail.. the black bull... (photo courtesy Sudha Ganapathy, since I didn't get a single decent image)

And there was this horse... or rather, horses... made with packaging material...

Among the others, the installations of vehicles were wonderful too....our favourite was the Vespa....

The installations representing auto rickshaws were just as interesting.

Our heart skips a beat these days as the meter plunks another unit... the increase in auto fares have affected us badly... 

But it has affected the auto drivers too, who struggle to eke a living, as this installation shows...

This one, on the other hand, shows the humble auto as a vehicle of dreams.... after all, this is the city of dreams!

This one cautioned people against talking on the mobile while driving....

And, finally, among the vehicles, this was certainly the simplest, but also the best....

And that was just the beginning. There was so much more to see and enjoy.... to see the rest, come back to the blog tomorrow for some more pics from Kala Ghoda...

These photos are meant for those of you who don’t live in Mumbai, and can’t visit the festival. For those of you who do live in Mumbai, get off from the computer and go, see the sights for yourself.... Here is a link to the complete event schedule...

• Complete Schedule of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 

I shall be at Kala Ghoda again, tomorrow – Tuesday (5^th Feb) and maybe Saturday (9^th Feb) as well, so if you are in the area, give me a shout, and let’s meet!