India is generally known as the country with the most festivities and holidays, both cultural and religious; hence it is a regular occurrence for Indians all over the world to put up spectacular and colorful festivals to mark these events.
The Festival of India held on Saturday August 13th was organised by the Indian community in Lagos. It happened to be the first of its kind in Nigeria and was an opportunity for the Indians to showcase their rich cultural heritage. It was an avenue for Nigerians who admire the beauty of India, are big fans of Bollywood or are just adventurous (like me) to experience first-hand the splendor of India. For those that couldn’t make it to the event, I hope this summary of my “Indian experience” will give you a little bit of insight into what you missed and what to expect when you maybe decide to take a trip to India.
For me, the experience was a mix of the good, bad and the ugly- but let’s just start with the good part. Firstly, the gate fee for the event was very affordable; student price was #1000, regular tickets at #3000, VIP tickets at #7000 and corporate tickets sold at #50000. The event had a huge turnout- although, I must state that 70% of them were Indians, making it the largest gathering of Indians in one place ever in Nigeria. The event kicked off with a chariot parade from CMS to TBS, followed immediately by an expo of various aspects of the Indian culture like their clothes, artwork, religious artefacts and most especially their food. Some companies also saw it as an avenue to showcase their products. It was like a Bollywood movie, I got to engage with some of them who were very friendly and eager to share their cultural heritage.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t only the Indians that had things to showcase at the expo; there were Nigerians and people from other countries like Thailand and Lebanon. I got the chance to try out a wide array of foreign dishes and even got the recipes for some. First, I stumbled upon some Indian fries made from semovita- a plate of that with a cup of water sold at N700. After this, I came across a not-so-polite Thai lady who had some rather tasty Thai dishes on display (the food made up for her attitude quite nicely, I must say). Some of the Thai dishes she had on display included “Babanya” Salad, “Patay” Noodles and “cheap” spring rolls (which ironically were sold at N250 each and were no different from the ones found in “Naija” small chops). The Indian dishes I tried were “Medu Vada” (which as far as am concerned, is just “akara” that was born and bred in India, served with curry sauce and spices) and “Gulab Jamin” served with Lentil beans. Each sold at #1000 a plate.
Now to the not-so-good parts: I must state categorically here that most of the items they had on display including the dishes were quite overpriced- even an ordinary bottle of water that is normally #50 sold at #200. Also, quite a number of the Indians were reclusive or rather, scared to take pictures and socialize.
Deeper meaning of the ceremonies held at the Festival of India
Unknown to most people the #FestivalofIndia was a religious festival during which lots of ceremonial rites occurred. There were people dressed like the god Krishna and several other Hindu deities. For me, one of the major highlights of the event was the procession in honor of the Buddhist and Hindu god “Jagannath”.
As usual, in the spirit of “famzing”, Nigerians joined the Indians in chanting and singing “La Jagannath… La Jagannath”; a chant I later discovered from one of the Pundits means “lord of the universe”. Even the logo of the event is the symbol of Jagannath, which implies that the entire event was a pagan feast in honor of the Hindu god.
Notwithstanding the festival was fun, colorful and well planned; security was tight and the performances were awesome. Even though I didn’t wait till the end, I enjoyed every bit of it.
