Last week on my way back from the office, I saw a giant wheel lazing around in the open grounds behind the HUDA market near my place. Festive season around, the place was being used to hold a small traveling fair.
Now honestly speaking I am not much of a carnival enthusiast and definitely not the kind who would hop on a swing for amusement. I just don’t see the fun in sitting on a funny bunny and going around in circles only to throw up later. However, I had been craving to take out my camera and click a few pictures for many days now and this seemed like half an opportunity.
The fair was rustic and rural in terms of the rides it offered and the kind of tents that were put up. It did remind me of some of the primitive village carnivals I had the chance of going to in my younger days and I decided to give it a try.
I stepped inside the temporary gate that marked the boundary of the fair and immediately saw the potential to take some very interesting pictures.
These are a couple of shots I took.
- Death of Well: I am sure that the owner wanted the sign to say ‘Well of Death’ but somehow could not get the translation right.
This is necessarily a cage with slant walls wherein a rider would attempt to ride over the walls without falling down on the ground. (Check out the climax of a movie called ‘Saatwan Aasman’ starring Pooja Bhatt and Vivek Mushran if you have not seen this thing before. I doubt if sighting this would be easier than finding the DVD for the movie I just referred). Calling it Roohani Circus did not help either – sounded more like a B-grade horror flick from Kanti Shah than anything else.
- Ruby Chitrahar (below): Though I did not step inside this tent claiming to hold a ‘Kalchar’ (Cultural) programme. The hoarding did promise a colourful programme including 5 songs (Paanch gaano ka rangarang program), I thought the ticket price (150/-) was a loot compared to what was on offer.
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Jaadugar (Magician) : Now this was by far the most colourful and arty area in the entire pavilion. The posters were more than interesting and contained the following:
- Icchadhari Naagin (Really can’t translate this): Interesting to see that the poster had film star Rekha on it from one of her older movies.
- Ins(h)aan ka Aakhiri Roop (Last form of man): A skeleton as the last form of man would have been an easy portrayal for the artist. However, what I did not understand was the relevance of two scantily clad women on either side of the skeleton.
- Pighalne Wali Ladki (Girl who melts): The poster was a collage of Rani Mukherji, some girl from some sari commercial, a skeleton and random scenery in the backdrop. Never knew Rani could melt.
- Other Pop Art: If you have been to such fairs earlier, such artwork would seem pretty ordinary to you. However on a closer look, this does look interesting and probably highlights the way rural mob is targeted and lured into the dirty tent spaces for some con act.
- Chalta Firtaa Photo studio (Mobile photo studio): Now nothing could get funnier than the instruction written on the board on this ‘Chalta firtaa photo studio’.
- The better shots: Well these are couple of OK shots that I could take in under the fading light and shadows playing - a guy fixing the electric wires, the giant wheel, a child selling colors for ‘Rangoli’ and some random lamps for Diwali.
CLICK HERE for the complete set if the above pics got you interested.
2 comments :
This is pretty cool actually. To think that years ago stuff like this was the only source of entertainment!
The pictures are really amusing and certainly captivating for the kind of audience being catered. I have seen such fairs too and this post reminded me of those carefree childhood days. It's nice to keep a camera handy to capture such interesting stuff.
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