Festivities Part 2: The Parade

I'm going to go ahead and say it: India just does holidays far better than we do in the Western Hemisphere. It's a country known for bright colors, noise, large groups of people, and flavorful food, so of course it does. I mean, there's one national holiday here where you take time off just to throw paint at your friends. Why don't we have that?! Teej, I have discovered, is yet another holiday I wish I had access to in the USA if only for the parade.

Teej has been going on for most of this week, but yesterday was the day for the big climactic procession which turned out to be the best parade I've ever been to by far. Now, parades are crowded in the USA, but remember that India has three times the population of the USA in one third of the space, so any given place or event in India is about nine times as crowded as we Americans are used to. As a result, one of the most interesting aspects of the parade excursion turned out to be the people-watching. In the few hours before the parade we saw the street go from crowded to full to far beyond capacity.

Luckily, in addition to crowds, India is also known for generous hospitality. Foreseeing the massive crowds, but also wanting to encourage new visitors, the Rajasthan Tourism Board opens up an above-the-street platform with seats for foreign visitors only. To be honest, it felt kind of awkwardly Imperial to be in this VIP seating looking down on the locals in the street, but on the other hand, it was the best view of any parade I've ever had.In addition to our special seats, my parade-going experience was enhanced by my interactive souvenir. Before the parade, as the streets filled up, I was able to acquire this fantastic novelty combination-hat-and-noisemaker which I wore with pride for the duration of the evening. Happy Teej, indeed!

The parade began with traditional Rajasthani musicians and dancers. This was followed by a procession of elephants, yes elephants! The elephants were followed by camels, yes camels! And after the camels came several big marching bands with extensive processions of turban-wearing tuba players. The parade's finale was the Teej Idol, a big statue carried out on a red velvet chariot at which all of the locals started throwing coins for good luck. I wonder how many rupee-shaped bruises the idol-bearers left the parade with.
I knew the Teej parade was something special when I realized it was the first event I've gone to in India where I've been in danger of running out of both camera memory and battery life. So shabash (bravo) Jaipur! You've dazzled me again.